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THE 

FIFTEEN  DECISIVE  BATTLES 

OF  THE   WORLD 
jfrom  flDaratbon  to  Materloo 


BY 

SIR   EDWARD  CREASY,  M.A. 


NEW  EDITION 
TO    WHICH  ARE  ADDED 

QUEBEC— YORKTOWN 

VICKSBURG  — GETTYSBURG 

SEDAN— MANILA  BAY— SANTIAGO 

TSU-SHIMA  (The  Sea  of  Japan) 


WITH  MAPS 


NEW  YORK   AND   LONDON 
HARPER    &    BROTHERS     PUBLISHERS 


n^5 


GIFT  OF 


Copyright,  1908,  by  Harpbb  &  Brothers. 

..-///  rif^hts  reserved. 

Published  November,  1908. 


TO 

ROBERT  GORDON  LATHAM,  M.D.,  F.R.S. 

Late  Fellow  of  King's  College,  Cambridge ;  Fellow  of  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians 

London ;  Member  of  the  Ethnological  Society,  New  York ;  Late  Professor  of  the 

English  Language  and  Literature,  in  University  College,  London 

BY 

HIS  FRIEND 

THE  AUTHOR 


PREFACE. 


It  is  an  honorable  characteristic  of  the  spirit  of  this  age,  that 
projects  of  violence  and  warfare  are  regarded  among  civilized 
states  with  gradually  increasing  aversion.  The  Universal  Peace 
Society  certainly  does  not,  and  probably  never  will,  enroll  the 
majority  of  statesmen  among  its  members.  But  even  those 
who  look  upon  the  appeal  of  battle  as  occasionally  unavoidable 
in  international  controversies  concur  in  thinking  it  a  deplorable 
necessity,  only  to  be  resorted  to  when  all  peaceful  modes  of  ar- 
rangement have  been  vainly  tried,  and  when  the  law  of  self- 
defence  justifies  a  state,  like  an  individual,  in  using  force  to 
protect  itself  from  imminent  and  serious  injury.  For  a  writer, 
therefore,  of  the  present  day  to  choose  battles  for  his  favorite 
topic,  merely  because  they  were  battles,  merely  because  so  many 
myriads  of  troops  were  arrayed  in  them,  and  so  many  hundreds 
or  thousands  of  human  beings  stabbed,  hewed,  or  shot  each 
other  to  death  during  them,  would  argue  strange  weakness  or 
depravity  of  mind.  Yet  it  cannot  be  denied  that  a  fearful  and 
wonderful  interest  is  attached  to  these  scenes  of  carnage. 
There  is  undeniable  greatness  in  the  disciplined  courage  and  in 
the  love  of  honor  which  make  the  combatants  confront  agony 
and  destruction.  And  the  powers  of  the  human  intellect  are 
rarely  more  strongly  displayed  than  they  are  in  the  commander, 
who  regulates,  arrays,  and  wields  at  his  will  these  masses  of 
armed  disputants;  who,  cool  yet  daring,  in  the  midst  of  peril, 
reflects  on  all,  and  provides  for  all,  ever  ready  with  fresh  re- 
sources and  designs,  as  the  vicissitudes  of  the  storm  of  slaugh- 
ter require.  But  these  qualities,  however  high  they  may  ap- 
pear, are  to  be  found  in  the  basest  as  well  as  in  the  noblest  of 
Clftnkind.     Catiline  was  as  brave  a  soldier  as  Leonidas,  and  s^ 


viii  PREFA  CE. 

much  better  oflficer.  Alva  surpassed  the  Prince  of  Orange  in 
the  field  ;  and  Suwarrow  was  the  military  superior  of  Kosciusko. 
To  adopt  the  emphatic  words  of  Byron — 

"  'Tis  the  cause  makes  all, 
Degrades  or  hallows  courage  in  its  fall." 

There  are  some  battles,  also,  which  claim  our  attention,  inde* 
pendently  of  the  moral  worth  of  the  combatants,  on  account  of 
their  enduring  importance,  and  by  reason  of  the  practical  in- 
fluence on  our  own  social  and  political  condition,  which  we  can 
trace  up  to  the  results  of  those  engagements.  They  have  for 
us  an  abiding  and  actual  interest,  both  while  we  investigate  the 
chain  of  causes  and  effects  by  which  they  have  helped  to  make 
us  what  we  are,  and  also  while  we  speculate  on  what  we  prob- 
ably should  have  been  if  any  one  of  these  battles  had  come  to 
a  different  termination.  Hallam  has  admirably  expressed  this 
in  his  remarks  on  the  victory  gained  by  Charles  Martel,  between 
Tours  and  Poictiers,  over  the  invading  Saracens. 

He  says  of  it,  that  "  it  may  justly  be  reckoned  among  those 
few  battles  of  which  a  contrary  event  would  have  essentially 
varied  the  drama  of  the  world  in  all  its  subsequent  scenes  :  with 
Marathon,  Arbela,  the  Metaurus,  Chalons,  and  Leipsic."  It  was 
the  perusal  of  this  note  of  Hallam's  that  first  led  me  to  the  con- 
sideration of  ^y  present  subject.  I  certainly  differ  from  that 
great  historian  as  to  the  comparative  importance  of  some  of  the 
battles  which  he  thus  enumerates,  and  also  of  some  which  he 
omits.  It  is  probable,  indeed,  that  no  two  historical  inquirers 
would  entirely  agree  in  their  lists  of  the  decisive  battles  of  the 
world.  Different  minds  wilf  naturally  vary  in  the  impressions 
which  particular  events  make  on  them ;  and  in  the  degree  of  in- 
terest with  which  they  watch  the  career,  and  reflect  on  the  im- 
portance, of  different  historical  personages.  But  our  concur- 
rence in  our  catalogues  is  of  little  moment,  provided  we  learn  to 
]ook  on  these  great  historical  events  in  the  spirit  which  Hallam's 
observations  indicate.  Those  remarks  should  teach  us  to  watch 
how  the  interests  of  many  states  are  often  involved  in  the  col- 
lisions between  a  few ;  and  how  the  effect  of  those  collisions  is 
not  limited  to  a  single  age,  but  may  be  given  an  impulse  which 


PREFA  CE.  ix 

will  sway  the  fortunes  of  successive  generations  of  mankind. 
Most  valuable  also  is  the  mental  discipline  which  is  thus  ac- 
quired, and  by  which  we  are  trained  not  only  to  observe  what 
has  been  and  what  is,  but  also  to  ponder  on  what  might  have 
been.* 

We  thus  learn  not  to  judge  of  the  wisdom  of  measures  too 
exclusively  by  the  results.  We  learn  to  apply  the  juster  stand- 
ard of  seeing  what  the  circumstances  and  the  probabilities  were 
that  surrounded  a  statesman  or  a  general  at  the  time  when  he 
decided  on  his  plan ;  we  value  him  not  by  his  fortune,  but  by 
his  TTpoaipEfftQ,  to  adopt  the  expressive  Greek  word,  for  which 
our  language  gives  no  equivalent. 

The  reasons  why  each  of  the  following  fifteen  battles  has 
been  selected  will,  I  trust,  appear  when  it  is  described.  But  it 
may  be  well  to  premise  a  few  remarks  on  the  negative  tests 
which  have  led  me  to  reject  others  which  at  first  sight  may  ap- 
pear equal  in  magnitude  and  importance  to  the  chosen  fifteen. 

I  need  hardly  remark  that  it  is  not  the  number  of  killed  and 
wounded  in  a  battle  that  determines  its  general  historical  im- 
portance. It  is  not  because  only  a  few  hundreds  fell  in  the  bat- 
tle by  which  Joan  of  Arc  captured  the  Tourelles  and  raised  the 
siege  of  Orleans  that  the  effect  of  that  crisis  is  to  be  judged ; 
nor  would  a  full  belief  in  the  largest  number  which  Eastern  his- 
torians state  to  have  been  slaughtered  in  any  of  the  numerous 
conflicts  between  Asiatic  rulers  make  me  regard  the  engage- 
ment in  which  they  fell  as  one  of  paramount  importance  to  man- 
kind. But,  besides  battles  of  this  kind,  there  are  many  of  great 
consequence,  and  attended  with  circumstances  which  powerfully 
excite  our  feelings  and  rivet  our  attention,  and  yet  which  ap- 
pear to  me  of  mere  secondary  rank,  inasmuch  as  either  their  ef- 
fects were  limited  in  area,  or  they  themselves  merely  confirmed 
some  great  tendency  or  bias  which  an  earlier  battle  had  origi- 
nated. For  example,  the  encounters  between  the  Greeks  and 
Persians  which  followed  Marathon  seem  to  me  not  to  have 
been  phenomena  of  primary  impulse.  Greek  superiority  had 
been    already    asserted,    Asiatic    ambition    had    already    been 

*  See  Bolingbroke,  "  On  the  Study  and  Use  of  History,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  497  of 
his  collected  works. 


X  PREFACE. 

checked,  before  Salamis  and  Platsea  confirmed  the  superiority 
of  European  free  states  over  Oriental  despotism.  So,  ^gos- 
Potamos,  which  finally  crushed  the  maritime  power  of  Athens, 
seems  to  me  inferior  in  interest  to  the  defeat  before  Syracuse, 
where  Athens  received  her  first  fatal  check,  and  after  which  she 
only  struggled  to  retard  her  downfall.  I  think  similarly  of 
Zama  with  respect  to  Carthage,  as  compared  with  the  Metaurus  ; 
and,  on  the  same  principle,  the  subsequent  great  battles  of  the 
Revolutionary  war  appear  to  me  inferior  in  their  importance  to 
Valmy,  which  first  determined  the  military  character  and  career 
of  the  French  Revolution. 

I  am  aware  that  a  little  activity  of  imagination,  and  a  slight 
exercise  of  metaphysical  ingenuity,  may  amuse  us,  by  showing 
how  the  chain  of  circumstances  is  so  linked  together  that  the 
smallest  skirmish,  or  the  slightest  occurrence  of  any  kind,  that 
ever  occurred  may  be  said  to  have  been  essential,  in  its  actual 
termination,  to  the  whole  order  of  subsequent  events.  But 
when  I  speak  of  causes  and  effects,  I  speak  of  the  obvious  and 
important  agency  of  one  fact  upon  another,  and  not  of  remote 
and  fancifully  infinitesimal  influences.  I  am  aware  that,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  reproach  of  fatalism  is  justly  incurred  by  those 
who,  like  the  writers  of  a  certain  school  in  a  neighboring  coun- 
try, recognize  in  history  nothing  more  than  a  series  of  necessary 
phenomena,  which  follow  inevitably  one  upon  the  other.  But 
when,  in  this  work,  I  speak  of  probabilities,  I  speak  of  human 
probabilities  only.  When  I  speak  of  cause  and  effect,  I  speak 
of  those  general  laws  only  by  which  we  perceive  the  sequence 
of  human  affairs  to  be  usually  regulated,  and  in  which  we  rec- 
ognize emphatically  the  wisdom  and  power  of  the  Supreme 
Lawgiver,  the  design  of  the  Designer. 

MiTRK  Court  Chambers,  Temple, 
June  26,  1851. 


INTRODUCTION    TO    THE    NEW   AND 
ENLARGED    EDITION. 


The  present  volume  contains  all  the  text  of  Sir  Edward 
Creasy 's  Fifteen  Decisive  Battles.  That  work  may  be  fairly 
said  to  have  become  a  classic,  and  it  is  given  here  complete ;  but 
the  value  of  this  new  edition  is  enhanced  and  rendered  dis- 
tinctive by  the  addition  of  eight  decisive  battles,  most  of  which 
have  been  fought  since  Creasy 's  book  was  written.  These  make 
up  the  second  part  of  this  new  and  enlarged  edition. 

Sir  Edward  Creasy 's  famous  work  first  appeared  in  1851. 
The  point  of  view  indicated  in  his  original  preface  shows  that 
he  would  logically  have  selected  and  emphasized  certain  military 
events  occurring  since  his  first  publication.  Of  the  eight  battles 
added  in  this  edition,  six  were  fought  after  1851.  The  addition 
of  two  which  might  have  been  included  within  the  range  of 
Creasy's  plan  seemed  essential  in  the  light  of  modern  his- 
torical perspective.  While  in  his  synopses  he  has  made  brief 
references  to  the  fall  of  Quebec  and  the  surrender  at  York- 
town,  it  seems  obvious  that  the  practical  extinction  of  the  pow- 
er of  France  on  this  continent  and  the  victory  which  closed  the 
American  War  for  Independence  are  justly  entitled  to  larger 
consideration  than  his  plan  permitted  him  to  give. 

As  to  battles  since  1851,  much  care  and  thought  have  been 
given  to  a  selection  which  would  be  in  accordance  with  Creasy^s 
general  plan,  and  at  the  same  time  would  recognize  certain  new 
world  conditions  which  have  arisen  since  his  time.  These  may 
be  summarized  as  the  preservation  of  the  American  Union,  the 
unification  of  the  German  Empire,  the  new  responsibilities  of 
the  United  States  as  a  Pacific  power,  the  final  expulsion  of 
Spain  from  the  Western  Hemisphere,  and  the  definite  rise  of 
Japan  to  rank  as  one  of  the  great  powers  with  a  relatively 


xii  INTRODUCTION    TO    NEW    EDITION 

clear  field  for  continental  expansion.  These  results  have  been 
decided  wholly  or  in  large  measure  by  the  battles  described  in 
the  second  part  of  this  volume.  Their  selection,  it  is  believed, 
is  justified  by  the  point  of  view  which  has  been  indicated.  Very 
nearly  a  century  has  passed  since  Waterloo,  the  last  of  Creasy's 
fifteen  battles.  The  limits  within  which  the  author  worked 
justified  his  omission  of  our  War  of  1812  and  Mexican  War,  as 
well  as  the  minor  conflicts  of  European  powers,  and  these  Hmits 
would  have  justified  him,  we  beUeve,  in  passing  with  simple 
mention  the  Crimea,  the  Indian  Mutiny,  the  wars  for  ItaHan 
independence,  the  Turco-Russian,  Greco-Turkish,  and  Boer 
wars,  and  other  conflicts,  of  which  the  most  important,  the 
struggles  which  gave  freedom  and  unity  to  Italy,  were  curiously 
lacking  in  any  single  epoch-making  battle  which  by  itself  could 
be  regarded  as  wholly  decisive. 

The  accounts  of  battles  newly  presented  in  this  volume  are 
by  historians  writing  from  the  historical  point  of  view.  As  an 
example  of  concise  military  history  the  account  of  Sedan  by 
the  commander  of  the  German  forces  possesses  a  peculiar  in- 
terest. Vicksburg  and  Gettysburg  have  been  written  by  a 
historian  who  is  a  veteran  of  the  American  Civil  War.  In 
order  that  the  battles  themselves  might  not  appear  as  isolated, 
introductions  and  appendices  have  been  supplied,  in  addition 
to  the  synopses,  in  order  to  preserve  historical  relations. 
For  example,  it  has  seemed  desirable  to  make  clear  the  relations 
of  Spain  and  the  United  -^States  to  Cuba  before  the  war,  and 
also  to  explain  Russia's  advance  to  the  Pacific  and  the  menace 
to  the  island  Empire  of  Japan,  which  lay  in  Russia's  possession 
of  the  mainland,  rather  than  to  limit  the  chapter  to  Admiral 
Togo's  victory  alone. 

At  the  outset  of  Part  II.  there  is  presented  a  synopsis  which 
differs  from  Creasy's  chronology  from  battle  to  battle,  inasmuch 
as  it  is  topical.  This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  to  understand  the 
significance  of  Wolfe's  victory  at  Quebec  it  is  essential  to  bear 
in  mind  the  development  and  long  continuance  of  the  struggle 
between  the  two  nations,  France  and  England,  for  North 
America,  or  at  least  for  the  country  west  of  the  Alleghanies,  as 
well  as  Canada.  The  other  synopses  follow  the  arrangement 
adopted  by  Creasy.  Since  this  is  for  the  most  part  a  military 
chronology,  it  has  seemed  proper  that  this  should  be  defined. 


INTRODUCTION    TO    NEW    EDITION  xiu 

The  publishers  believe  that  the  pains  taken  in  preparing  this 
new  and  enlarged  edition — the  Harper  Creasy — will  be  appreci- 
ated by  the  general  reader,  and  by  the  directors  of  public  and 
of  school  libraries. 

September,  1908. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I.  p^ai 

The  Battle  op  Marathon 1 

Explanatory  Remarks  on  some  of  the  Circumstances  of  the  Battle  of 
Marathon 31 

Synopsis  of  Events  between  the  Battle  of  Marathon,  B.C.  490,  and  the 
Defeat  of  the  Athenians  at  Syracuse,  B.C.  413 33 


CHAPTER  II. 

Defeat  of  the  Athenians  at  Syracuse,  b.c.  413 36 

Synopsis  of  Events  between  the  Defeat  of  the  Athenians  at  Syracuse 
and  the  Battle  of  Arbela 54 

CHAPTER  III. 

The  Battle  of  Arbela,  b.c.  331 67 

Synopsis  of  Events  between  the  Battle  of  Arbela  and  the  Battle  of 
the  Metaurus 79 

CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Battle  of  the  Metaurus,  b.c.  207 , 84 

Synopsis  of  Events  between  the  Battle  of  the  Metaurus,  b.c.  207,  and 
Arminius's  Victory  over  the  Roman  Legions  under  Varus,  a.d.  9.     112 

CHAPTER  V. 
Victory  of  Arminius  oyer  the  Roman  Legions  under  Varus,  a.d.  9.     118 

Arminius 181 

Synopsis  of  Events  between  Arminius's  Victory  over  Varus  and  the 
Battle  of  Chalons 141 


xvi  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  VI.  p^o. 

The  Battle  of  Chalons,  a.d.  451 143 

Synopsis  of  Events  between  the  Battle  of  Chalons,  a.d.  451,  and  the 

'  Battle  of  Tours,  732 157 


CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Battle  of  Tours,  a.d.  732 .' 159 

Synopsis  of  Events  between  the  Battle  of  Tours,  a.d.  732,  and  the 
Battle  of  Hastings,  1066 169 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  Battle  of  Hastings,  a.d.  1066 171 

Synopsis  of  Events  between  the  Battle  of  Hastings,  a.d.  1066,  and 
Joan  of  Arc's  Victory  at  Orleans,  1429 , 204 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Joan  of  Arc's  Victory  over  the  English  at  Orleans,  a.d.  1429 208 

Synopsis  of  Events  between  Joan  of  Arc's  Victory  at  Orleans,  a.d. 
1429,  and  the  Defeat  of  the  Spanish  Armada,  1588 226 

CHAPTER  X. 

The  Defeat  of  the  Spanish  Armada,  a.d.  1588 328 

Synopsis  of  Events  between  the  Defeat  of  the  Spanish  Armada,  a.d. 

1588,  and  the  Battle  of  Blenheim,  1704 257 

CHAPTER  XI. 

The  Battle  of  Blenheim,  a.d.  1704 259 

Synopsis  of  Events  between  the  Battle  of  Blenheim,  1704,  and  the 
Battle  of  Pultowa,  1709 281 


CHAPTER   XII. 

The  Battle  of  Pultowa,  a.d.  1709 •. . . .     282 

Synopsis  of  Events  between  the  Battle  of  Pultowa,  1709,  and  the 
Defeat  of  Burgoyne  at  Saratoga,  1 777 295 


CONTENTS.  XTU 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

PAOB 

Victory  of  the  Americans  over  Burgoyne  at  Saratoga,  a.d.  1777    298 

Synopsis  of  Events  between  the  Defeat  of  Burgoyne  at  Saratoga,  1777, 
and  the  Battle  of  Valmy,  1792 326 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

The  Battle  op  Valmy 327 

Synopsis  of  Events  between  the  Battle  of  Valmy,  1792,  and  the  Battle 
of  Waterloo,  1815 341 

CHAPTER  XV. 
The  Battle  op  Waterloo,  1815 344 


PART   II. 

Introductory  Sjmopsis  of  the  Principal  Military  Events  in  the  Struggle  be- 
tween the  French  and  English  in  North  America. 


CHAPTER  I. 

The  Fall  op  Quebec,  1759 411 

By  Reuben  Gold  Tkwaites,  LL.D.    Librarian  of  the  Wisconsin 
State  Historical  Society.     Author  of "  France  in  America." 

Synopsis  of  the  Principal  Events,  chiefly  Military,  between  the  Battle 
of  Quebec,  1759,  and  the  Battle  of  Yorktown,  1781 420 


CHAPTER  II. 

Yorktown  and  the  Surrender  op  Cornwallis,  1781 422 

The  Political  Effects  of  Yorktown. 

By  Claude  Halstead  Van  Tyne,  Ph.D.  Assistant  Professor  of 
American  History,  University  of  Michigan.  Author  of  "The 
American   Revolution." 

Synopsis  cf  the  Principal  Events,  chiefly  Military,  between  the  Battle 
of  Yorktown,  1781,  and  the  Battles  of  Vicksburg  and  Gettysburg, 
1863 428 


xviii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  III. 

PA6B 

ViCKSBTTRG,    JaNUARY-JuLT,    1863 433 

By  James  Kendall  Hosmer,  LL.D.    Author  of  "The  Appeal  to 
Arms"  and  "Outcome  of  the  CivU  War." 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Gettysburg,  July  1-3,  1863 442 

By  James  Kendall  Hosmer,  LL.D. 

Synopsis  of  the  Principal  Events,  chiefly  Military,  between  the  Battles 
of  Vicksburg  and  Gettysburg,  1863,  and  the  Battle  of  Sedan,  1870..    458 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  Battle  of  Sedan,  1870 459 

By  Field-Marshal  Count  Helmulh  von  MoUke.    Author  of  "  The 
Franco-German  War  of  1870-71." 

Synopsis  of  the  Principal  Events,  chiefly  Military,  between  the  Battle 
of  Sedan,  1870,  and  the  Battles  of  Manila  Bay  and  Santiago,  1898. .     472 

CHAPTER  VI. 
The  Battle  op  Manila  Bay,  1898 474 

CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Battles  op  Santiago,  1898 482 

By  John  Holladay  Latane,  Ph.D.    Professor  of  History,  Washing- 
ton and  Lee  University.    Author  of  "America  as  a  World  Power." 

Synopsis  of  the  Principal  Events,  chiefly  Military,  between  the  Battles 
of  Manila  and  Santiago,  1898,  and  the  Battle  of  Tsu-Shima,  or  Sea 
of  Japan,  1905 497 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
The  Battle  op  Tsu-Shima  (Sea  op  Japan),  1905 498 

Index 505 


THE 

FIFTEEN  DECISIVE  BATTLES 
OF  THE  WORLD 

PROM  MARATHON  TO  WATERLOO 


OOd/lS.  ■■     :■         • 


THE 

FIFTEEN    DECISIVE   BATTLES   OF 
THE    WORLD. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    BATTLE    OF    MARATHON. 

"Quibus  actus  uterque 
EuropaB  atque  Asiae  fatis  concurrent  orbis." 

Two  thousand  three  hundred  and  forty  years  ago,  a  council 
of  Athenian  officers  was  summoned  on  the  slope  of  one  of  the 
mountains  that  look  over  the  plain  of  Marathon,  on  the  eastern 
coast  of  Attica.  The  immediate  subject  of  their  meeting  was  to 
consider  whether  they  should  give  battle  to  an  enemy  that  lay 
encamped  on  the  shore  beneath  them ;  but  on  the  result  of  their 
deliberations  depended,  not  merely  the  fate  of  two  armies,  but 
the  whole  future  progress  of  human  civilization. 

There  were  eleven  members  of  that  council  of  war.  Ten  were 
the  generals,  who  were  then  annually  elected  at  Athens,  one  for 
each  of  the  local  tribes  into  which  the  Athenians  were  divided. 
Each  general  led  the  men  of  his  own  tribe,  and  each  was  invest- 
ed with  equal  military  authority.  One  also  of  the  Archons  was 
associated  with  them  in  the  joint  command  of  the  collective  force. 
This  magistrate  was  termed  the  Polemarch,  or  War-Ruler :  he  had 
the  privilege  of  leading  the  right  wing  of  the  army  in  battle,  and 
of  taking  part  in  all  councils  of  war.  A  noble  Athenian,  named 
Callimachus,  was  the  War-Ruler  of  this  year ;  and,  as  such,  stood 
listening  to  the  earnest  discussion  of  the  ten  generals.     They 


2  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON. 

ha^l,  indeed,  deep  matter  for  anxiety,  though  little  aware  how 
momentous  to  mankind  were  the  votes  they  were  about  to  give, 
ov  how  the  geaeralions  to  come  would  read  with  interest  the 
record  of  their  debate.  They  saw  before  them  the  invading 
forces  of  a  mighty  empire,  which  had  in  the  last  fifty  years  shat- 
tered and  enslaved  nearly  all  the  kingdoms  and  principalities  of 
the  then  known  world.  They  knew  that  all  the  resources  of 
their  own  country  were  comprised  in  the  little  army  intrusted 
to  their  guidance.  They  saw  before  them  a  chosen  host  of  the 
Great  King,  sent  to  wreak  his  special  wrath  on  that  country,  and 
on  the  other  insolent  little  Greek  community,  which  had  dared 
to  aid  his  rebels  and  burn  the  capital  of  one  of  his  provinces. 
That  victorious  host  had  already  fulfilled  half  its  mission  of  ven- 
geance. Eretria,  the  confederate  of  Athens  in  the  bold  march 
against  Sardis  nine  years  before,  had  fallen  in  the  last  few  days ; 
and  the  Athenian  generals  could  discern  from  the  heights  the 
island  of  ^gilia,  in  which  the  Persians  had  deposited  their  Ere- 
trian  prisoners,  whom  they  had  reserved  to  be  led  away  captives 
into  Upper  Asia,  there  to  hear  their  doom  from  the  lips  of  King 
Darius  himself.  Moreover,  the  men  of  Athens  knew  that  in  the 
camp  before  them  was  their  own  banished  tyrant,  Hippias,  who 
was  seeking  to  be  reinstated  by  foreign  scimitars  in  despotic 
sway  over  any  remnant  of  his  countrymen  that  might  survive 
the  sack  of  their  town,  and  might  be  left  behind  as  too  worth- 
less for  leading  away  into  Median  bondage. 

The  numerical  disparity  between  the  force  which  the  Athe- 
nian commanders  had  under  them,  and  that  which  they  were  called 
on  to  encounter,  was  fearfully  apparent  to  some  of  the  council. 
The  historians  who  wrote  nearest  to  the  time  of  the  battle  do 
not  pretend  to  give  any  detailed  statements  of  the  numbers  en- 
gaged, but  there  are  sufficient  data  for  our  making  a  general  esti- 
mate. Every  free  Greek  was  trained  to  military  duty ;  and,  from 
the  incessant  border  wars  between  the  different  states,  few  Greeks 
reached  the  age  of  manhood  without  having  seen  some  service. 
But  the  muster-roll  of  free  Athenian  citizens  of  an  age  fit  for 
military  duty  never  exceeded  thirty  thousand,  and  at  this  epoch 
probably  did  not  amount  to  two  thirds  of  that  number.  More- 
over, the  poorer  portion  of  these  were  unprovided  with  the  equip- 
ments and  untrained  to  the  operations  of  the  regular  infantry. 
Some  detachments  of  the  best  armed  troops  would  be  required 
to  garrison  the  city  itself  and  man  the  various  fortified  posts 
in  the  territory ;  "2.jjiaitt  it  jfi  iir^posgiblf  to  reckon  the  fully 
equipped  force  that  marched  from  Athens  to  Marathon^  wjxe^ 


BATTLE  OF  MARATHON.  3 

'  With  one  exception,  the  other  Greeks  held  back  from  aiding 
them.  Sparta  had  promised  assistance ;  but  the  Persians  had 
landed  on  the  sixth  day  of  the  moon,  and  a  religious  scruple 
delayed  the  march  of  Spartan  troops  till  the  moon  should  have 
reached  its  full.  From  one  quarter  only,  and  that  a  most  un- 
expected one,  did  Athens  receive  aid  at  the  moment  of  her  great 
peril. 

For  some  years  before  this  time,  the  little  state  of  Platsea  in 
Boeotia,  being  hard  pressed  by  her  powerful  neighbor,  Thebes, 
had  asked  the  protection  of  Athens,  and  had  owed  to  an  Athe- 
nian army  the  rescue  of  her  independence.  Now  when  it  was 
noised  over  Greece  that  the  Mede  had  come  from  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  earth  to  destroy  Athens,  the  brave  Plataeans,  unso- 
licited, marched  with  their  whole  force  to  assist  in  the  defence, 
and  to  share  the  fortunes  of  their  benefactors.  The  general 
levy  of  the  Plataeans  only  amounted  to  a  thousand  men  ;  and 
this  little  column,  marching  from  their  city  along  the  southern 
ridge  of  Mount  Cithaeron,  and  thence  across  the  Attic  territory, 
joined  the  Athenian  forces  above  Marathon  almost  immediately 
before  the  battle.  The  reinforcement  was  numerically  small ; 
but  the  gallant  spirit  of  the  men  who  composed  it  must  have 
made  it  of  tenfold  value  to  the  Athenians,  and  its  presence 
must  have  gone  far  to  dispel  the  cheerless  feeling  of  being  de- 
serted and  friendless  which  the  delay  of  the  Spartan  succors 
was  calculated  to  create  among  the  Athenian  ranks. 

This  generous  daring  of  their  weak  but  true-hearted  ally  was 
never  forgotten  at  Athens.  The  Plataeans  were  made  the  fellow- 
countrymen  of  the  Athenians,  except  the  right  of  exercising  cer- 
tain political  functions ;  and  from  that  time  forth  in  the  solemn 
sacrifices  at  Athens,  the  public  prayers  were  offered  up  for  a 
joint  blessing  from  Heaven  upon  the  Athenians,  and  the  Platae- 
ans also.f 

*  The  historians  who  lived  long  after  the  time  of  the  battle,  such  as  Justin, 
Plutarch,  and  others,  give  ten  thousand  as  the  number  of  the  Athenian  army. 
Not  much  reliance  could  be  placed  on  their  authority  if  unsupported  by  other 
evidence ;  but  a  calculation  made  from  the  number  of  the  Athenian  free  popu- 
lation remarkably  confirms  it.  For  the  data  of  this,  see  Boeck's  "Public 
Economy  of  Athens,"  vol.  i.,  p.  45.  Some  Mlrotxroi  probably  served  as  Hop- 
lites  at  Marathon,  but  the  number  of  resident  aliens  at  Athens  cannot  have 
been  large  at  this  period. 

t  Mr.  Grote  observes  (vol.  iv.,  p.  464)  that  "  this  volunteer  march  of  the 
whole  Plataean  force  to  Marathon  is  one  of  the  most  affecting  incidents  of  all 


4  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON, 

After  the  junction  of  the  column  from  Plataea,  the  Athenian 
commanders  must  have  had  under  them  about  eleven  thousand 
fully  armed  and  disciplined  infantry,  and  probably  a  larger  num- 
ber of  irregular  light-armed  troops ;  as,  besides  the  poorer  citi- 
zens who  went  to  the  field  armed  with  javelins,  cutlasses,  and 
targets,  each  regular  heavy-armed  soldier  was  attended  in  the 
camp  by  one  or  more  slaves,  who  were  armed  like  the  inferior 
freemen.*  Cavalry  or  archers  the  Athenians  (on  this  occasion) 
had  none ;  and  the  use  in  the  field  of  military  engines  was  not 
at  that  period  introduced  into  ancient  warfare. 

Contrasted  with  their  own  scanty  forces,  the  Greek  command- 
ers saw  stretched  before  them,  along  the  shores  of  the  winding 
bay,  the  tents  and  shipping  of  the  varied  nations  that  marched 
to  do  the  bidding  of  the  king  of  the  Eastern  world.  The  diffi- 
culty of  finding  transports  and  of  securing  provisions  would 
form  the  only  limit  to  the  numbers  of  a  Persian  army.  Nor  is 
there  any  reason  to  suppose  the  estimate  of  Justin  exaggerated, 
who  rates  at  a  hundred  thoyisand  the  force  which  on  this  occa- 
sion had  sailed,  under  the  satraps  l!)atis  and  Artaph  ernes,  from 
the  Cilician  shores,  against  the  devoted  coasts  of  Euboea  and 
Attica.  And  after  largely  deducting  from  this  total,  so  as  to 
allow  for  mere  mariners  and  camp  followers,  there  must  still 
have  remained  fearful  odds  against  the  national  levies  of  the 
Athenians.  Nor  could  Greek  generals  then  feel  that  confidence 
in  the  superior  quality  of  their  troops  which  ever  since  the  bat- 
tle of  Marathon  has  animated  Europeans  in  conflicts  with  Asi- 
atics ;  as,  for  instance,  in  the  after-struggles  between  Greece  and 
Persia,  or  when  the  Roman  legions  encountered  the  myriads  of 
Mithridates  and  Tigranes,  or  as  is  the  case  in  the  Indian  cam- 
paigns of  our  own  regiments.  On  the  contrary,  up  to  the  day 
of  Marathon  the  Medes  and  Persians  were  reputed  invincible. 
They  had  more  than  once  met  Greek  troops  in  Asia  Minor,  in 

Grecian  history."  In  truth,  the  whole  career  of  Platsea,  and  the  friendship, 
strong  even  unto  death,  between  her  and  Athens,  form  one  of  the  most  affect- 
ing episodes  in  the  history  of  antiquity.  In  the  Peloponnesian  War  the  PlatSB- 
ans  again  were  true  to  the  Athenians  against  all  risks  and  all  calculation  of 
self-interest ;  and  the  destruction  of  PiatBBa  was  the  consequence.  There  are 
few  nobler  passages  in  the  classics  than  the  speech  in  which  the  Plataean 
prisoners  of  war,  after  the  memorable  siege  of  their  city,  justify  before  their 
Spartan  executioners  their  loyal  adherence  to  Athens.  (See  Thucydides,  lib. 
iii.,  sees.  63-60.) 

*  At  the  battle  of  Platsea,  eleven  years  after  Marathon,  each  of  the  eight 
thousand  Athenian  regular  infantry  who  8erve4  tUere  was  attended  by  bi,  light- 
armed  slave.    (Herod.,  lib,  viii.,  c,  28,  29.) 


BATTLE  OF  MARATHON.  5 

Cyprus,  in  Egypt,  and  had  invariably  beaten  them.  Nothing 
can  be  stronger  than  the  expressions  used  by  the  early  Greek 
writers  respecting  the  terror  which  the  name  of  the  Medes  in- 
spired, and  the  prostration  of  men's  spirits  before  the  apparently 
resistless  career  of  the  Persian  arms.*  It  is,  therefore,  little  to 
be  wondered  at  that  five  of  the  ten  Athenian  generals  shrank 
from  the  prospect  of  fighting  a  pitched  battle  against  an  enemy 
so  superior  in  numbers,  and  so  formidable  in  military  renown. 
Their  own  position  on  the  heights  was  strong,  and  offered  great 
advantages  to  a  small  defending  force  against  assailing  masses. 
They  deemed  it  mere  foolhardiness  to  descend  into  the  plain  to 
be  trampled  down  by  the  Asiatic  horse,  overwhelmed  with  the 
archery,  or  cut  to  pieces  by  the  invincible  veterans  of  Cambyses 
and  Cyrus.  Moreover,  Sparta,  the  great  war-state  of  Greece,  had 
been  applied  to,  and  had  promised  succor  to  Athens,  though  the 
religious  observance  which  the  Dorians  paid  to  certain  times  and 
seasons  had  for  the  present  delayed  their  march.  Was  it  not 
wise,  at  any  rate,  to  wait  till  the  Spartans  came  up,  and  to  have 
the  help  of  the  best  troops  in  Greece,  before  they  exposed  them- 
selves to  the  shock  of  the  dreaded  Medes  ? 

Specious  as  these  reasons  might  appear,  the  other  five  generals 
were  for  speedier  and  bolder  operations.  And,  fortunately  for 
Athens  and  for  the  world,  one  of  them  was  a  man,  not  only  of 
the  highest  military  genius,  but  also  of  that  energetic  character 
which  impresses  its  own  type  and  ideas  upon  spirits  feebler  in 
conception. 

Miltiades^^as  the  head  of  one  of  the  noblest  houses  at  Athens : 
he"'ranke3^  the  ^^acidse  among  his  ancestry,  and  the  blood  of 
Achilles  flowed  in  the  veins  of  the  hero  of  Marathon.  One  of 
his  immediate  ancestors  had  acquired  the  dominion  of  the  Thra- 
cian  Chersonese,  and  thus  the  family  became  at  the  same  time 
Athenian  citizens  and  Thracian  princes.  This  occurred  at  the 
time  when  Pisistratus  was  tyrant  of  Athens.  Two  of  the  rela- 
tives of  Miltiades — an  uncle  of  the  same  name,  and  a  brother 
named  Stesagoras — had  ruled  the  Chersonese  before  Miltiades 
became  its  prince.  He  had  been  brought  up  at  Athens  in  the 
house  of  his  father  Cimon,f  who  was  renowned  throughout 

*  'AOrjvaloi  TrpwToi  dvkaxovTO  tffOiJTa  re  Mr]diKt)v  upswvTeg,  Kal  Tovg  dvSpag 
Tavn]v  kaOijjxevovg.  rkiog  d^  yv  rolm  "EWijm  Kai  to  ovvofia  tCjv  Mrjdwv  <p6^og 
aKovaai. — Herodotus,  lib.  vi,,  c.  112. 

At  dt  yvuifiai  Se  SovXtjjfitvat  diravTitiv  dvOpiOTrmv  i)(Tav.  ovtoj  TroXXd  xal  /te- 
ydXa  Kai  p.dxi}ia  ykvt]  KaTadeSov\u)fievr]  ijv  rj  nepffHv  dpxh- — Plato,  Menexe- 
nus.  \  Herodotus,  lib.  vi.,  c.  103. 


6  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON. 

Greece  for  his  victories  in  the  Olympic  chariot-races,  and  who 
must  have  been  possessed  of  great  wealth.  The  sons  of  Pisistra- 
tus,  who  succeeded  their  father  in  the  tyranny  at  Athens,  caused 
Cimon  to  be  assassinated,*  but  they  treated  the  young  Miltiades 
with  favor  and  kindness ;  and  when  his  brother  Stesagoras  died 
in  the  Chersonese,  they  sent  him  out  there  as  lord  of  the  prin- 
cipality. This  was  about  twenty-eight  years  before  the  battle 
of  Marathon,  and  it  is  with  his  arrival  in  the  Chersonese  that 
our  first  knowledge  of  the  career  and  character  of  Miltiades 
commences.  We  find,  in  the  first  act  recorded  of  him,  proof  of 
the  same  resolute  and  unscrupulous  spirit  that  marked  his  ma- 
ture age.  His  brother's  authority  in  the  principality  had  been 
shaken  by  war  and  revolt :  Miltiades  determined  to  rule  more 
securely.  On  his  arrival  he  kept  close  within  his  house,  as  if 
he  were  mourning  for  his  brother.  The  principal  men  of  the 
Chersonese,  hearing  of  this,  assembled  from  all  the  towns  and 
districts,  and  went  together  to  the  house  of  Miltiades  on  a  visit 
of  condolence.  As  soon  as  he  had  thus  got  them  in  his  power, 
he  made  them  all  prisoners.  He  then  asserted  and  maintained 
his  own  absolute  authority  in  the  peninsula,  taking  into  his  pay 
a  body  of 'five  hundred  regular  troops,  and  strengthening  his  in- 
terest by  marrying  the  daughter  of  the  king  of  the  neighboring 
Thracians. 

When  the  Persian  power  was  extended  to  the  Hellespont  and 
its  neighborhood,  Miltiades,  as  prince  of  the  Chersonese,  sub- 
mitted to  King  Darius;  and  he  was  one  of  the  numerous  trib- 
utary rulers  who  led  their  contingents  of  men  to  serve  in  the 
Persian  army  in  the  expedition  against  Scythia.  Miltiades  and 
the  vassal  Greeks  of  Asia  Minor  were  left  by  the  Persian  king 
in  charge  of  the  bridge  across  the  Danube,  when  the  invading 
army  crossed  that  river,  and  plunged  into  the  wilds  of  the  coun- 
try that  now  is  Russia,  in  vain  pursuit  of  the  ancestors  of  the 
modern  Cossacks.  On  learning  the  reverses  that  Darius  met 
with  in  the  Scythian  wilderness,  Miltiades  proposed  to  his  com- 
panions that  they  should  break  the  bridge  down,  and  leave  the 
Persian  king  and  his  army  to  perish  by  famine  and  the  Scythian 
arrows.  The  rulers  of  the  Asiatic  Greek  cities  whom  Miltiades 
addressed  shrank  from  this  bold  and  ruthless  stroke  against 
the  Persian  power,  and  Darius  returned  in  safety.  But  it  was 
known  what  advice  Miltiades  had  given ;  and  the  vengeance  of 
Darius  was  thenceforth  specially  directed  against  the  man  who 

*  Herodotus,  lib.  vi.,  c.  108, 


BATTLE  OF  MARATHON.  7 

had  counselled  such  a  deadly  blow  against  his  empire  and  his 
person.  The  occupation  of  the  Persian  arms  in  other  quarters 
left  Miltiades  for  some  years  after  this  in  possession  of  the 
Chersonese ;  but  it  was  precarious  and  interrupted.  He,  how- 
ever, availed  himself  of  the  opportunity  which  his  position  gave 
him  of  conciliating  the  good-will  of  his  fellow-countrymen  at 
Athens  by  conquering  and  placing  under  Athenian  authority 
the  islands  of  Lemnos  and  Imbros,  to  which  Athens  had  ancient 
claims,  but  which  she  had  never  previously  been  able  to  bring 
into  complete  subjection.  At  length,  in  494  b.c,  the  complete 
suppression  of  the  Ionian  revolt  by  the  Persians  left  their  armies 
and  fleets  at  liberty  to  act  against  the  enemies  of  the  Great  King 
to  the  west  of  the  Hellespont.  A  strong  squadron  of  Phoenician 
galleys  was  sent  against  the  Chersonese.  Miltiades  knew  that 
resistance  was  hopeless;  and  while  the  Phoenicians  were  at 
Tenedos,  he  loaded  five  galleys  with  all  the  treasure  that  he 
could  collect,  and  sailed  away  for  Athens.  The  Phoenicians  fell 
in  with  him,  and  chased  him  -hard  along  the  north  of  the  ^gean. 
One  of  his  galleys,  on  board  of  which  was  his  eldest  son,  Meti- 
ochus,  was  actually  captured  ;  but  Miltiades,  with  the  other  four, 
succeeded  in  reaching  the  friendly  coast  of  Imbros  in  safety. 
Thence  he  afterwards  proceeded  to  Athens,  and  resumed  his 
station  as  a  free  citizen  of  the  Athenian  commonwealth. 

The  Athenians  at  this  time  had  recently  expelled  Hippias,  the 
son  of  Pisistratus,  the  last  of  their  tyrants.  They  were  in  the 
full  glow  of  their  newly  recovered  liberty  and  equality ;  and  the 
constitutional  changes  of  Cleisthenes  had  inflamed  their  repub- 
lican zeal  to  the  utmost.  Miltiades  had  enemies  at  Athens ;  and 
these,  availing  themselves  of  the  state  of  popular  feeling,  brought 
him  to  trial  for  his  life  for  having  been  tyrant  of  the  Chersonese. 
The  charge  did  not  necessarily  import  any  acts  of  cruelty  or 
wrong  to  individuals :  it  was  founded  on  no  specific  law ;  but  it 
was  based  on  the  horror  with  which  the  Greeks  of  that  age  re- 
garded every  man  who  made  himself  compulsory  master  of  his 
fellow-men,  and  exercised  irresponsible  dominion  over  them. 
The  fact  of  Miltiades  having  so  ruled  in  the  Chersonese  was  un- 
deniable ;  but  the  question  which  the  Athenians,  assembled  in 
judgment,  must  have  tried  was,  whether  Miltiades,  by  becoming 
tyrant  of  the  Chersonese,  deserved  punishment  as  an  Athenian 
citizen.  The  eminent  service  that  he  had  done  the  state  in  con- 
quering Lemnos  and  Imbros  for  it,  pleaded  strongly  in  his  favor. 
The  people  refused  to  convict  him.  He  stood  high  in  public 
opinion;  and  when  the  coming  invasion  of  the  Persians  was 


8.  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON. 

known,  the  people  wisely  elected  him  one  of  their  generals  for 
the  year. 

Two  other  men  of  signal  eminence  in  history,  though  their 
renown  was  achieved  at  a  later  period  than  that  of  Miltiades, 
were  also  among  the  ten  Athenian  generals  at  Marathon.  One 
was  Themistocles,  the  future  founder  of  the  Athenian  navy  and 
the 'desiined  victor  of  Salamis ;  the  other  was  Aristides.  who 
afterwards  led  the  Athenian  troops  at  Plataea,  and  whose  integ- 
rity and  just  popularity  acquired  for  his  country,  when  the  Per- 
sians had  finally  been  repulsed,  the  advantageous  pre-eminence 
of  being  acknowledged  by  half  of  the  Greeks  as  their  impartial 
leader  and  protector.  It  is  not  recorded  what  part  either  The- 
mistocles or  Aristides  took  in  the  debate  of  the  council  of  war 
at  Marathon.  But  from  the  character  of  Themistocles,  his  bold- 
ness, and  his  intuitive  genius  for  extemporizing  the  best  meas- 
ures in  every  emergency*  (a  quality  which  the  greatest  of  his- 
torians ascribes  to  him  beyond  all  his  contemporaries),  we  may 
well  believe  that  the  vote  of  Themistocles  was  for  prompt  and 
decisive  action.  On  the  vote  of  Aristides  it  may  be  more  diffi- 
cult to  speculate.  His  predilection  for  the  Spartans  may  have 
made  him  wish  to  wait  till  they  came  up ;  but,  though  circum- 
spect, he  was  neither  timid  as  a  soldier  nor  as  a  politician ;  and 
the  boJd  advice  of  Miltiades  may  probably  have  found  in  Aris- 
Viides  a  willing,  most  assuredly  it  found  in  him  a  candid,  hearer. 

Miltiades  felt  no  hesitation  as  to  the  course  which  the  Athe- 
nian army  ought  to  pursue ;  and  earnestly  did  he  press  his  opin- 
ion on  his  brother-generals.  Practically  acquainted  with  the 
organization  of  the  Persian  armies,  Miltiades  was  convinced  of 
the  superiority  of  the  Greek  troops  if  properly  handled :  he  saw 
with  the  military  eye  of  a  great  general  the  advantage  which  the 
position  of  the  forces  gave  him  for  a  sudden  attack,  and  as  a 
profound  politician  he  felt  the  perils  of  remaining  inactive,  and 
of  giving  treachery  time  to  ruin  the  Athenian  cause. 

One  officer  in  the  council  of  war  had  not  yet  voted.  This  was 
Callimachus,  the  War-Ruler.  The  votes  of  the  generals  were 
five  and  five,  so  that  the  voice  of  CaUimachus  would  be  decisive. 

On  that  vote,  in  all  human  probability,  the  destiny  of  all  the 
nations  of  the  world  depended.  Miltiades  turned  to  him,  and  in 
simple  soldierly  eloquence,  the  substance  of  which  we  may  read 

*  See  the  character  of  Themi&tocles  in  the  138th  section  of  the  first  book 
of  Thucydides,  especially  the  last  sentence.  Kai  to  '^vfiirav  eiTrelv,  (pvcretjg 
filv  dvvdfiei  fieXkTTjQ  dt  jSpaxOrTjTi  Kpariarog  Si^  ovtoq  ai'TOffxe^tdi^dv  to,  dfovra 
iyivtTO.  ;*.'<■ 


BATTLE  OF  MARATHON.  9 

faitlifully  reported  in  Herodotus,  who  had  conversed  with  the 
veterans  of  Marathon,  the  great  Athenian  thus  adjured  his  coun- 
tryman to  vote  for  giving  battle  : 

"  It  now  rests  with  you,  Callimachus,  either  to  enslave  Athens, 
or,  by  assuring  her  freedom,  to  win  yourself  an  immortality  of 
fame,  such  as  not  even  Harmodius  and  Aristogeiton  have  ac- 
quired. For  never,  since  the  Athenians  were  a  people,  were 
they  in  such  danger  as  they  are  in  at  this  moment.  If  they 
bow  the  knee  to  these  Medes,  they  are  to  be  given  up  to  Hip- 
pias,  and  you  know  what  they  then  will  have  to  suffer.  But  if 
Athens  comes  victorious  out  of  this  contest,  she  has  it  in  her  to 
become  the  first  city  of  Greece.  Your  vote  is  to  decide  whether 
we  are  to  join  battle  or  not.  If  we  do  not  bring  on  a  battle 
presently,  some  factious  intrigue  will  disunite  the  Athenians, 
and  the  city  will  be  betrayed  to  the  Medes.  But  if  we  fight 
before  there  is  anything  rotten  in  the  state  of  Athens,  I  believe 
that,  provided  the  gods  will  give  fair  play  and  no  favor,  we  are 
able  to  get  the  best  of  it  in  the  engagement."  * 

The  vote  of  the  brave  War-Ruler  was  gained ;  the  council  de- 
termined to  give  battle ;  and  such  was  the  ascendency  and  mili- 
tary eminence  of  Miltiades  that  his  brother-generals,  one  and 
all,  gave  up  their  days  of  command  to  him,  and  cheerfully  acted 
under  his  orders.  Fearful,  however,  of  creating  any  jealousy, 
and  of  so  failing  to  obtain  the  co-operation  of  all  parts  of  his 
small  army,  Miltiades  waited  till  the  day  when  the  chief  com- 
mand would  have  come  round  to  him  in  regular  rotation  before 
he  led  the  troops  against  the  enemy. 

The  inaction  of  the  Asiatic  commanders  during  this  interval 
appears  strange  at  first  sight ;  but  Hippias  was  with  them,  and 
they  and  he  were  aware  of  their  chance  of  a  bloodless  conquest 
through  the  machinations  of  his  partisans  among  the  Athenians. 

*  Herodotus,  lib.  vi.,  sec.  109.  The  116th  section  is  to  my  mind  clear  proof 
that  Herodotus  had  personally  conversed  with  Epizelus,  one  of  the  veterans 
of  Marathon.  The  substance  of  the  speech  of  Miltiades  would  naturally  be- 
come known  by  the  report  of  some  of  his  colleagues.  The  speeches  which 
ancient  historians  place  in  the  mouth  of  kings  and  generals  are  generally  in- 
ventions of  their  own ;  but  part  of  the  speech  of  Miltiades  bears  internal'  evi- 
dence of  authenticity.  Such  is  the  case  with  the  remarkable  expression,  ^v 
li  ^Vfi^dXwfisv  Trpiv  n  Kai  aaOpbv  'A9T}vai(i)v  fieTt^eTipoiai  ivysvsaOai,  9ewv  rd 
laa  vsfiovTuiv,  oloi  re  ii/xev  irepiytveffOai  ry  avfifioXy.  This  daring  and  almost 
irreverent  assertion  would  never  have  been  coined  by  Herodotus,  but  it  is 
precisely  consonant  with  what  we  know  of  the  character  of  Miltiades ;  and  it 
is  an  expression  which,  if  used  by  him,  would  be  sure  to  be  remembered  and 
repeated  by  his  hearers. 


10  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON. 

The  nature  of  the  ground  also  explains,  in  many  points,  the  tac- 
tics of  the  opposite  generals  before  the  battle,  as  well  as  the  op- 
erations of  the  troops  during  the  engagement. 

The  plain  of  Marathon,  which  is  about  twenty-two  miles  dis- 
tant from  Athens,  lies  along  the  bay  of  the  same  name  on  the 
northeastern  coast  of  Attica.  The  plain  is  nearly  in  the  form 
of  a  crescent,  and  about  six  miles  in  length.  It  is  about  two 
miles  broad  in  the  centre,  where  the  space  between  the  moun- 
tains and  the  sea  is  greatest,  but  it  narrows  towards  either  ex- 
tremity, the  mountains  coming  close  down  to  the  water  at  the 
horns  of  the  bay.  There  is  a  valley  trending  inwards  from  the 
middle  of  the  plain,  and  a  ravine  comes  down  to  it  to  the  south- 
ward. Elsewhere  it  is  closely  girt  round  on  the  land  side  by 
rugged  limestone  mountains,  which  are  thickly  studded  with 
pines,  olive-trees,  and  cedars,  and  overgrown  with  the  myrtle, 
arbutus,  and  the  other  low  odoriferous  shrubs  that  everywhere 
perfume  the  Attic  air.  The  level  of  the  ground  is  now  varied 
by  the  mound  raised  over  those  who  fell  in  the  battle,  but  it  was 
an  unbroken  plain  when  the  Persians  encamped  on  it.  There 
are  marshes  at  each  end,  which  are  dry  in  spring  and  summer, 
and  then  offer  no  obstruction  to  the  horseman,  but  are  common- 
ly flooded  with  rain,  and  so  rendered  impracticable  for  cavalry, 
in  the  autumn,  the  time  of  year  at  which  the  action  took  place.* 

The  Greeks,  lying  encamped  on  the  mountains,  could  watch 
every  movement  of  the  Persians  on  the  plain  below,  while  they 
were  enabled  completely  to  mask  their  own.  Miltiades  also  had, 
from  his  position,  the  power  of  giving  battle  whenever  he  pleased, 
or  of  delaying  it  at  his  discretion,  unless  Datis  were  to  attempt 
the  perilous  operation  of  storming  the  heights. 

If  we  turn  to  the  map  of  the  old  world,  to  test  the  compara- 
tive territorial  resources  of  the  two  states  whose  armies  were 
now  about  to  come  into  conflict,  the  immense  preponderance  of 
the  material  power  of  the  Persian  king  over  that  of  the  Athe- 
nian republic  is  more  striking  than  any  similar  contrast  which 
history  can  supply.  It  has  been  truly  remarked,  that,  in  esti- 
mating mere  areas,  Attica,  containing  on  its  whole  surface  only 
seven  hundred  square  miles,  shrinks  into  insignificance  if  com- 
pared with  many  a  baronial  fief  of  the  Middle  Ages,  or  many  a 
colonial  allotment  of  modern  times.  Its  antagonist,  the  Persian 
empire,  comprised  the  whole  of  modern  Asiatic  and  much  of 
modem  European  Turkey;  the  modern  kingdom  of  Persia,  and 

*  See  Plan,  at  p.  21. 


BATTLE  OF  MARATHON.  11 

the  countries  of  modern  Georgia,  Armenia,  Balkh,  the  Punjab, 
Afghanistan,  Beloochistan,  Egypt,  and  Tripoli. 

Nor  could  a  European,  in  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century 
before  our  era,  look  upon  this  huge  accumulation  of  power  be- 
neath the  sceptre  of  a  single  Asiatic  ruler  with  the  indifference 
with  which  we  now  observe  on  the  map  the  extensive  dominions 
of  modern  Oriental  sovereigns.  For,  as  has  been  already  re- 
marked, before  Marathon  was  fought,  the  prestige  of  success  and 
of  supposed  superiority  of  race  was  on  the  side  of  the  Asiatic 
against  the  European.  Asia  was  the  original  seat  of  human 
societies ;  and  long  before  any  trace  can  be  found  of  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  rest  of  the  world  having  emerged  from  the  rudest 
barbarism,  we  can  perceive  that  mighty  and  brilliant  empires 
flourished  in  the  Asiatic  continent.  They  appear  before  us 
through  the  twilight  of  primeval  history,  dim  and  indistinct,  but 
massive  and  majestic,  like  mountains  in  the  early  dawn^ 

Instead,  however,  of  the  infinite  variety  and  restless  change 
which  have  characterized  the  institutions  and  fortunes  of  Euro- 
pean states  ever  since  the  commencement  of  the  civilization  of 
our  continent,  a  monotonous  uniformity  pervades  the  histories 
of  nearly  all  Oriental  empires,  from  the  most  ancient  down  to 
the  most  recent  times.  They  are  characterized  by  the  rapidity 
of  their  early  conquests ;  by  the  immense  extent  of  the  domin- 
ions comprised  in  them ;  by  the  establishment  of  a  satrap  or 
pacha  system  of  governing  the  provinces ;  by  an  invariable  and 
speedy  degeneracy  in  the  princes  of  the  royal  house,  the  effemi- 
nate nurslings  of  the  seraglio  succeeding  to  the  warrior-sovereigns 
reared  in  the  camp ;  and  by  the  internal  anarchy  and  insurrec- 
tions which  indicate  and  accelerate  the  decline  and  fall  of  these 
unwieldy  and  ill-organized  fabrics  of  power.  It  is  also  a  strik- 
ing fact  that  the  governments  of  all  the  great  Asiatic  empires 
have  in  all  ages  been  absolute  despotisms.  And  Heeren  is  right 
in  connecting  this  with  another  great  fact,  which  is  important 
from  its  influence  both  on  the  political  and  the  social  life  of 
Asiatics.  "Among  all  the  considerable  nations  of  Inner  Asia, 
tJie  paternal  government  of  every  household  was  corrupted  by 
polygamy ;  where  that  custom  exists,  a  good  political  constitu- 
tion is  impossible.  Fathers  being  converted  into  domestic  des- 
pots, are  ready  to  pay  the  same  abject  obedience  to  their  sover- 
eign which  they  exact  from  their  family  and  dependants  in  their 
domestic  economy."  We  should  bear  in  mind  also  the  insepa- 
rable connection  between  the  state  religion  and  all  legislation, 
which  has  always  prevailed  in  the  East,  and  the  constant  ex- 


12  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON. 

istence  of  a  powerful  sacerdotal  body,  exercising  some  obeck, 
though  precarious  and  irregular,  over  the  throne  itself,  grasping 
at  all  civil  administration,  claiming  the  supreme  control  of  edu- 
cation, stereotyping  the  lines  in  which  literature  and  science 
must  move,  and  limiting  the  extent  to  which  it  shall  be  lawful 
for  the  human  mind  to  prosecute  its  inquiries. 

With  these  general  characteristics  rightly  felt  and  understood, 
it  becomes  a  comparatively  easy  task  to  investigate  and  appre- 
ciate the  origin,  progress,  and  principles  of  Oriental  empires  in 
general,  as  well  as  of  the  Persian  monarchy  in  particular.  And 
we  are  thus  better  enabled  to  appreciate  the  repulse  which  Greece 
gave  to  the  arms  of  the  East,  and  to  judge  of  the  probable  con- 
sequences to  human  civilization  if  the  Persians  had  succeeded 
in  bringing  Europe  under  their  yoke,  as  they  had  already  sub- 
jugated the  fairest  portions  of  the  rest  of  the  then  known  world. 

The  Greeks,  from  their  geographical  position,  formed  the  nat- 
ural vanguard  of  European  liberty  against  Persian  ambition ;  and 
they  pre-eminently  displayed  the  salient  points  of  distinctive  na- 
tional character,  which  have  rendered  European  civilization  so 
far  superior  to  Asiatic.  The  nations  that  dwelt  in  ancient  times 
around  and  near  the  northern  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea 
were  the  first  in  our  continent  to  receive  from  the  East  the  rudi- 
ments of  art  and  literature,  and  the  germs  of  social  and  political 
organization.  Of  these  nations,  the  Greeks,  through  their  vicin- 
ity to  Asia  Minor,  Phoenicia,  and  Egypt,  were  among  the  very 
foremost  in  acquiring  the  principles  and  habits  of  civilized  life ; 
and  they  also  at  once  imparted  a  new  and  wholly  original  stamp 
on  all  which  they  received.  Thus,  in  their  religion  they  received 
from  foreign  settlers  the  names  of  all  their  deities  and  many  of 
their  rites,  but  they  discarded  the  loathsome  monstrosities  of  the 
Nile,  the  Orontes,  and  the  Ganges :  they  nationalized  their  creed ; 
and  their  own  poets  created  their  beautiful  mythology.  No  sac- 
erdotal caste  ever  existed  in  Greece.  So,  in  their  governments 
they  lived  long  under  hereditary  kings,  but  never  endured  the 
permanent  establishment  of  absolute  monarchy.  Their  early 
kings  were  constitutional  rulers,  governing  with  defined  preroga- 
tives.* And  long  before  the  Persian  invasion  the  kingly  form 
of  government  had  given  way  in  almost  all  the  Greek  states  to 
republican  institutions,  presenting  infinite  varieties  of  the  balanc- 
ing or  the  alternate  predominance  of  the  oligarchical  and  demo- 
cratical  principles.    I  ^  literature  and  science  the  Greek  intellect 

*  'Ett*  pi]ToTQ  yepaai  TrarpiKai  ^aaCKCiai. — Thucyd,,  lib.  i.,  sec.  13. 


BATTLE  OF  MARATHON.  13 

followed  no  beaten  track,  and  acknowledged  no  limitary  rules. 
The  Greeks  thought  their  subjects  boldly  out ;  and  the  novelty 
of  a  speculation  invested  it  in  their  minds  with  interest,  and  not 
with  criminality.  Versatile,  restless,  enterprising,  and  self-con- 
fident, the  Greeks  presented  the  most  striking  contrast  to  the 
habitual  quietude  and  submissiveness  of  the  Orientals.  And,  of 
all  the  Greeks,  the  Athenians  exhibited  these  national  character- 
istics in  the  strongest  degree.  This  spirit  of  activity  and  dar- 
ing, joined  to  a  generous  sympathy  for  the  fate  of  their  fellow- 
Greeks  in  Asia,  had  led  them  to  join  in  the  last  Ionian  war ;  and 
now,  mingling  with  their  abhorrence  of  the  usurping  family  of 
their  own  citizens,  which  for  a  period  had  forcibly  seized  on  and 
exercised  despotic  power  at  Athens,  it  nerved  them  to  defy  the 
wrath  of  King  Darius,  and  to  refuse  to  receive  back  at  his  bid- 
ding the  tyrant  whom  they  had  some  years  before  driven  from 
their  land. 

The  enterprise  and  genius  of  an  Englishman  have  lately  con- 
firmed by  fresh  evidence,  and  invested  with  fresh  interest,  the 
might  of  the  Persian  monarch,  who  sent  his  troops  to  combat  at 
Marathon.  Inscriptions  in  a  character  termed  the  Arrow-head- 
ed, or  Cuneiform,  had  long  been  known  to  exist  on  the  marble 
monuments  at  Persepolis,  near  the  site  of  the  ancient  Susa,  and 
on  the  faces  of  rocks  in  other  places  formerly  ruled  over  by  the 
early  Persian  kings.  But  for  thousands  of  years  they  had  been 
mere  unmtelligible  enigmas  to  the  curious  but  baffled  beholder ; 
and  they  were  often  referred  to  as  instances  of  the  folly  of  hu- 
man pride,  which  could  indeed  write  its  own  praise  in  the  solid 
rock,  but  only  for  the  rock  to  outlive  the  language  as  well  as 
the  memory  of  the  vain-glorious  inscribers.  The  elder  Niebuhr, 
Grotefend,  and  Lassen  had  made  some  guesses  at  the  meaning 
of  the  Cuneiform  letters;  but  Major  Rawlinson,  of  the  East 
India  Company's  service,  after  years  of  labor,  has  at  last  accom- 
plished the  glorious  achievement  of  fully  revealing  the  alphabet 
and  the  grammar  of  this  long  unknown  tongue.  He  has,  in 
particular,  fully  deciphered  and  expounded  the  inscriptions  on 
the  sacred  rock  of  Behistun,  on  the  western  frontiers  of  Media. 
These  records  of  the  Acha3menid8e  have  at  length  found  their 
interpreter ;  and  Darius  himself  speaks  to  us  from  the  conse- 
crated mountain,  and  tells  us  the  names  of  the  nations  that 
obeyed  him,  the  revolts  that  he  suppressed,  his  victories,  his 
piety,  and  his  glory,* 

*  See  the  tenth  volume  of  the  "  Journal  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society." 


14  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON, 

Kings  wlio  thus  seek  the  admiration  of  posterity  are  little 
likely  to  dim  the  record  of  their  successes  by  the  mention  of 
their  occasional  defeats ;  and  it  throws  no  suspicion  on  the  nar- 
rative of  the  Greek  historians  that  we  find  these  inscriptions 
respecting  the  overthrow  of  Datis  and  Artaphernes,  as  well  as 
respecting  the  reverses  which  Darius  sustained  in  person  during 
his  Scythian  campaigns.  But  these  indisputable  monuments  of 
Persian  fame  confirm,  and  even  increase,  the  opinion  with  which 
Herodotus  inspires  us,  of  the  vast  power  which  Cyrus  founded 
and  Cambyses  increased ;  which  Darius  augmented  by  Indian 
and  Arabian  conquests,  and  seemed  likely,  when  he  directed  his 
arms  against  Europe,  to  make  the  predominant  monarchy  of  the 
world. 

With  the  exception  of  the  Chinese  empire,  in  which,  through- 
out all  ages  down  to  the  last  few  years,  one  third  of  the  human 
race  has  dwelt  almost  unconnected  with  the  other  portions,  all 
the  great  kingdoms  which  we  know  to  have  existed  in  Ancient 
Asia  were,  in  Darius's  time,  blended  with  the  Persian.  The 
northern  Indians,  the  Assyrians,  the  Syrians,  the  Babylonians, 
the  Chaldees,  the  Phoenicians,  the  nations  of  Palestine,  the  Ar- 
menians, the  Bactrians,  the  Lydians,  the  Phrygians,  the  Par- 
thians,  and  the  Medes — all  obeyed  the  sceptre  of  the  Great 
King ;  the  Medes  standing  next  to  the  native  Persians  in  honor, 
and  the  empire  being  frequently  spoken  of  as  that  of  the  Medes, 
or  that  of  the  Medes  and  Persians.  Egypt  and  Cyrene  were 
Persian  provinces ;  the  Greek  colonists  in  Asia  Minor  and  the 
islands  of  the  JEgean  were  Darius's  subjects ;  and  their  gallant 
but  unsuccessful  attempts  to  throw  off  the  Persian  yoke  had 
only  served  to  rivet  it  more  strongly,  and  to  increase  the  general 
belief  that  the  Greeks  could  not  stand  before  the  Persians  in  a 
field  of  battle.  Darius's  Scythian  war,  though  unsuccessful  in 
its  immediate  object,  had  brought  about  the  subjugation  of 
Thrace  and  the  submission  of  Macedonia.  From  the  Indus  to 
the  Peneus,  all  was  his. 

We  may  imagine  the  wrath  with  which  the  lord  of  so  many 
nations  must  have  heard,  nine  years  before  the  battle  of  Mara- 
thon, that  a  strange  nation  towards  the  setting  sun,  called  the 
Athenians,  had  dared  to  help  his  rebels  in  Ionia  agamst  him, 
and  that  they  had  plundered  and  burned  the  capital  of  one  of 
his  provinces.  Before  the  burning  of  Sardis,  Darius  seems 
never  to  have  heard  of  the  existence  of  Athens ;  but  his  satraps 
in  Asia  Minor  had  for  some  time  seen  Athenian  refugees  at 
their  provincial  courts  imploring  assistance  against  their  fellow- 


BATTLE  OF  MARATHON.  15 

countrymen.  When  Hippias  was  driven  away  from  Athens,  and 
the  tyrannic  dynasty  of  the  Pisistratidae  finally  overthrown  in 
510  B.  c,  the  banished  tyrant  and  his  adherents,  after  vainly 
seeking  to  be  restored  by  vSpartan  intervention,  had  betaken 
themselves  to  Sardis,  the  capital  city  of  the  satrapy  of  Arta- 
phernes.  There  Hippias  (in  the  expressive  words  of  Herodo- 
tus)* began  every  kind  of  agitation,  slandering  the  Athenians 
before  Artaphernes,  and  doing  all  he  could  to  induce  the  sata'ap 
to  place  Athens  in  subjection  to  him,  as  the  tributary  vassal  of 
King  Darius.  When  the  Athenians  heard  his  practices,  they 
sent  envoys  to  Sardis  to  remonstrate  with  the  Persians  against 
taking  up  the  quarrel  of  the  Athenian  refugees.  But  Arta- 
phernes gave  them  in  reply  a  menacing  command  to  receive 
Hippias  back  again  if  they  looked  for  safety.  The  Athenians 
were  resolved  not  to  purchase  safety  at  such  a  price ;  and  after 
rejecting  the  satrap's  terms,  they  considered  that  they  and  the 
Persians  were  declared  enemies.  At  this  very  crisis  the  Ionian 
Greeks  implored  the  assistance  of  their  European  brethren,  to 
enable  them  to  recover  their  independence  from  Persia.  Ath- 
ens, and  the  city  of  Eretria  in  Euboea,  alone  consented.  Twenty 
Athenian  galleys,  and  five  Eretrian,  crossed  the  JEgean  Sea ;  and 
by  a  bold  and  sudden  march  upon  Sardis  the  Athenians  and 
their  allies  succeeded  in  capturing  the  capital  city  of  the  haughty 
satrap,  who  had  recently  manaced  them  with  servitude  or  de- 
struction. The  Persian  forces  were  soon  rallied,  and  the  Greeks 
were  compelled  to  retire.  They  were  pursued,  and  defeated  on 
their  return  to  the  coast,  and  Athens  took  no  further  part  in  the 
Ionian  war.  But  the  insult  that  she  had  put  upon  the  Persian 
power  was  speedily  made  known  throughout  that  empire,  and 
was  never  to  be  forgiven  or  forgotten.  In  the  emphatic  sim- 
plicity of  the  narrative  of  Herodotus,  the  wrath  of  the  Great 
King  is  thus  described :  "  Now  when  it  was  told  to  King 
Darius  that  Sardis  had  been  taken  and  burned  by  the  Athenians 
and  lonians,  he  took  small  heed  of  the  lonians,  well  knowing 
who  they  were,  and  that  their  revolt  would  soon  be  put  down ; 
but  he  asked  who,  and  what  manner  of  men,  the  Athenians 
were.  And  when  he  had  been  told,  he  called  for  his  bow ;  and, 
having  taken  it,  and  placed  an  arrow  on  the  string,  he  let  the 
arrow  fly  towards  heaven ;  and  as  he  shot  it  into  the  air,  he 
said,  '  O  Supreme  God !  grant  me  that  I  may  avenge  myself  on 
the  Athenians.'     And  when  he  had  said  this,  he  appointed  one 

*  Herod,,  lib,  v.,  c.  96. 


16  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON. 

of  his  servants  to  say  to  him  every  day  as  he  sat  at  meat,  *  Sire, 
remember  the  Athenians.' " 

Some  years  were  occupied  in  the  complete  reduction  of  Ionia. 
But  when  this  was  effected,  Darius  ordered  his  victorious  forces 
to  proceed  to  punish  Athens  and  Eretria,  and  to  conquer  Euro- 
pean Greece.  The  first  armament  sent  for  this  purpose  was 
shattered  by  shipwreck,  and  nearly  destroyed  off  Mount  Athos. 
But  the  purpose  of  King  Darius  was  not  easily  shaken.  A 
larger  army  was  ordered  to  be  collected  in  Cilicia ;  and  requisi- 
tions were  sent  to  all  the  maritime  cities  of  the  Persian  empire 
for  ships  of  war,  and  for  transports  of  sufficient  size  for  carry- 
ing cavalry  as  well  as  infantry  across  the  vEgean.  While  these 
preparations  were  being  made,  Darius  sent  heralds  round  to  the 
Grecian  cities  demanding  their  submission  to  Persia.  It  was 
proclaimed  in  the  market-place  of  each  little  Hellenic  state  (some 
with  territories  not  larger  than  the  Isle  of  Wight),  that  King 
Darius,  the  lord  of  all  men,  from  the  rising  to  the  setting  sun,* 
required  earth  and  water  to  be  delivered  to  his  heralds,  as  a 
symbolical  acknowledgment  that  he  was  head  and  master  of  the 
country.  Terror-stricken  at  the  power  of  Persia  and  at  the  se- 
vere punishment  that  had  recently  been  inflicted  on  the  refrac- 
tory lonians,  many  of  the  Continental  Greeks  and  nearly  all  the 
islanders  submitted,  and  gave  the  required  tokens  of  vassalage. 
At  Sparta  and  Athens  an  indignant  refusal  was  returned :  a  re- 
fusal which  was  disgraced  by  outrage  and  violence  against  the 
persons  of  the  Asiatic  heralds,. 

Fresh  fuel  was  thus  added  to  the  anger  of  Darius  against 
Athens,  and  the  Persian  preparations  went  on  with  renewed 
vigor.  In  the  summer  of490...g:£^  the  army  destined  for  the 
invasion  was  assembled  inThe  Aleian  plain  of  Cilicia,  near  the 
sea.  A  fleet  of  six  hundred  galleys  and  numerous  transports 
was  collected  on  the  coast  for  the  embarkation  of  troops, 
horse  as  well  as  foot.  A  Median  general  named  Datis,  and  Ar- 
taphernes,  the  son  of  the  satrap  of  SafdTs*^and  who'  was  also 
nephew  of  Darius,  were  placed  in  titular  joint  command  of  the 
expedition.     That  the  real  supreme  authority  was  given  to  Datis 

*  iEschines  in  Ctes.,  p.  522,  ed.  Reiske.  Mitford,  vol.  i.,  p.  485.  ^schines 
is  speaking  of  Xerxes,  but  Mitford  is  probably  right  in  considering  it  as  the 
style  of  the  Persian  kings  in  their  proclamations.  In  one  of  the  inscriptions 
at  Persepolis,  Darius  terms  himself  "  Darius  the  great  king,  king  of  kings, 
the  king  of  the  many  peopled  countries,  the  supporter  also  of  this  great 
world."  In  another,  he  styles  himself  "the  king  of  all  inhabited  countries.'* 
(See  "Asiatic  Journal,"  vol.  x.,  pp.  287  and  292,  and  Major  Rawlinson'a 
Comments.) 


BATTLE  OF  MARATHOJ^.  l7 

alone  is  probable,  from  the  way  in  which  the  Greek  writers 
speak  of  him.  We  know  no  details  of  the  previous  career  of 
this  officer ;  but  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  his  abilities 
and  bravery  had  been  proved  by  experience,  or  his  Median  birth 
would  have  prevented  his  being  placed  in  high  command  by 
Darius.  He  appears  to  have  been  the  first  Mede  who  was  thus, 
trusted  by  the  Persian^mgs  alter  the  overthrow  of  the  conspir-. 
acyiD^  tlie"MeliraH~3Tagt'aprt!r§t'TEe  l^ersiarislm mediately  befoie 
Darritts-oblained'th'c  throne.  Datis  received  instructions  to  com- 
plete-the-STrbjtrgatiO'ti  Of  Greece,  and  especial  orders  were  given 
him  with  regard  to  Eretria  and  Athens.  He  was  to  take  these 
two  cities;  and  he  was  to  lead  the  inhabitants  away  captive,  and 
bring  them  as  slaves  into  the  presence  of  the  Great  King. 

Datis  embarked  his  forces  in  the  fleet  that  awaited  them  ;  and 
coasting  along  the  shores  of  Asia  Minor  till  he  was  off  Samos, 
he  thence  sailed  due  westward  through  the  ^gean  Sea  for 
Greece,  taking  the  islands  in  his  way.  The  Naxians  had,  ten 
years  before,  successfully  stood  a  siege  against  a  Persian  arma- 
ment, but  they  now  were  too  terrified  to  offer  any  resistance,  and 
fled  to  the  mountain-tops,  while  the  enemy  burned  their  town 
and  laid  waste  their  lands.  Thence  Datis,  compelling  the  Greek 
islanders  to  join  him  with  their  ships  and  men,  sailed  onward  to 
the  coast  of  Euboea.  The  little  town  of  Carystus  essayed  resist- 
ance, but  was  quickly  overpowered.  He  next  attacked  Eretria. 
The  Athenians  sent  four  thousand  men  to  its  aid.  But  treach- 
ery was  at  work  among  the  Eretrians ;  and  the  Athenian  force 
received  timely  warning  from  one  of  the  leading  men  of  the  city 
to  retire  to  aid  in  saving  their  own  country,  instead  of  remain- 
ing to  share  in  the  inevitable  destruction  of  Eretria.  Left  to 
themselves,  the  Eretrians  repulsed  the  assault  of  the  Persians 
against  their  walls  for  six  days ;  on  the  seventh  day  they  were 
betrayed  by  two  of  their  chiefs,  and  the  Persians  occupied  the 
city.  The  temples  were  burned  in  revenge  for  the  burning  of 
Sardis,  and  the  inhabitants  were  bound  and  placed  as  prisoners 
in  the  neighboring  islet  of  ^gylia,  to  wait  there  till  Datis  should 
bring  the  Athenians  to  join  them  in  captivity,  when  both  popu- 
lations were  to  be  led  into  Upper  Asia,  there  to  learn  their  doom 
from  the  lips  of  King  Darius  himself. 

Flushed  with  success,  and  with  half  his  mission  thus  accom- 
plished, Datis  reimbarked  his  troops,  and,  crossing  the  little 
channel  that  separates  Euboea  from  the  mainland,  he  encamped 
his  troops  on  the  Attic  coast  at  Marathon,  drawing  up  his  gal- 
leys on  the  shelving  beach,  as  was  the  custom  with  the  navies 


18  BATTLE  OP  MAHATMO^. 

of  antiquity.  The  conquered  islands  behind  him  served  as 
places  of  deposit  for  his  provisions  and  military  stores.  His 
position  at  Marathon  seemed  to  him  in  every  respect  advanta- 
geous ;  and  the  level  nature  of  the  ground  on  which  he  camped 
was  favorable  for  the  employment  of  his  cavalry,  if  the  Athe- 
nians should  venture  to  engage  him.  Hippias,  who  accompanied 
him,  and  acted  as  the  guide  of  the  invaders,  had  pointed  out 
Marathon  as  the  best  place  for  a  landing,  for  this  very  reason. 
Probably  Hippias  was  also  influenced  by  the  recollection  that 
forty-seven  years  previously  he,  with  his  father  Pisistratus,  had 
crossed  with  an  army  from  Eretria  to  Marathon,  and  had  won  an 
easy  victory  over  their  Athenian  enemies  on  that  very  plain, 
which  had  restored  them  to  tyrannic  power.  The  omen  seemed 
cheering.  The  place  was  the  same ;  but  Hippias  soon  learned 
to  his  cost  how  great  a  change  had  come  over  the  spirit  of  the 
Athenians. 

But  though  "  the  fierce  democracy  "  of  Athens  was  zealous 
and  true  against  foreign  invader  and  domestic  tyrant,  a  faction 
existed  in  Athens,  as  at  Eretria,  of  men  willing  to  purchase  a 
party  triumph  over  their  fellow-citizens  at  the  price  of  their 
country's  ruin.  Communications  were  opened  between  these 
men  and  the  Persian  camp,  which  would  have  led  to  a  catas- 
trophe like  that  of  Eretria,  if  Miltiades  had  not  resolved,  and 
Ihad  not  persuaded  his  colleagues  to  resolve,  on  fighting  at  all 
Ihazards. 

1  When  Miltiades  arrayed  his  men  for  action,  he  staked  on  the 
rbitrement  of  one  battle  not  only  the  fate  of  Athens,  but  that 
of  all  Greece ;  for  if  Athens  had  fallen,  no  other  Greek  state, 
except  Lacedaemon,  would  have  had  the  courage  to  resist ;  and 
the  Lacedaemonians,  though  they  would  probably  have  died  in 
their  ranks  to  the  last  man,  never  could  have  successfully  re- 
sisted the  victorious  Persians  and  the  numerous  Greek  troops 
which  would  have  soon  marched  under  the  Persian  satraps  had 
they  prevailed  over  Athens. 

Nor  was  there  any  power  to  the  westward  of  Greece  that  could 
have  ojffered  an  effectual  opposition  to  Persia  had  she  once  con- 
quered Greece  and  made  that  country  a  basis  for  future  military 
operations.  Rome  was  at  this  time  in  her  season  of  utmost 
weakness.  Her  dynasty  of  powerful  Etruscan  kings  had  been 
driven  out,  and  her  infant  commonwealth  was  reeling  under  the 
attacks  of  the  Etruscans  and  Volscians  from  without,  and  the 
fierce  dissensions  between  the  patricians  and  plebeians  within. 
Etruria,  with  her  Lucumos  and  serfs,  was  no  match  for  Persia, 


BATTLE  OF  MARATHON.  19 

Samnium  had  not  grown  into  the  might  which  she  afterwards 
put  forth ;  nor  could  the  Greek  colonies  in  South  Italy  and  Sicily 
hope  to  survive  when  their  parent  states  had  perished.  Carthage 
had  escaped  the  Persian  yoke  in  the  time  of  Cambyses,  through 
the  reluctance  of  the  Phoenician  mariners  to  serve  against  their 
kinsmen.  But  such  forbearance  could  not  long  have  been  relied 
on,  and  the  future  rival  of  Rome  would  have  become  as  submis- 
sive a  minister  of  the  Persian  power  as  were  the  Phoenician  cities 
themselves.  If  we  turn  to  Spain,  or  if  we  pass  the  great  moun- 
tain chain  which,  prolonged  through  the  Pyrenees,  the  Cevennes, 
the  Alps,  and  the  Balkan,  divides  Northern  from  Southern  Eu- 
rope, we  shall  find  nothing  at  that  period  but  mere  savage  Finns, 
Celts,  Slaves,  and  Teutons.  Had  Persia  beaten  Athens  at  Mara- 
thon, she  could  have  found  no  obstacle  to  prevent  Darius,  the 
chosen  servant  of  Ormuzd,  from  advancing  his  sway  over  all  the 
known  Western  races  of  mankind.  The  infant  energies  of  Eu- 
rope w^ould  have  been  trodden  out  beneath  universal  conquest ; 
and  the  history  of  the  world,  like  the  history  of  Asia,  would 
have  become  a  mere  record  of  the  rise  and  fall  of  despotic  dyn- 
asties, of  the  incursions  of  barbarous  hordes,  and  of  the  mental 
and  political  prostration  of  millions  beneath  the  diadem,  the 
tiara,  and  the  sword. 

Great  as  the  preponderance  of  the  Persian  over  the  Athenian 
power  at  that  crisis  seems  to  have  been,  it  would  be  unjust  to 
impute  wild  rashness  to  the  policy  of  Miltiades,  and  those  who 
voted  with  him  in  the  Athenian  council  of  war,  or  to  look  on  the 
after-current  of  events  as  the  mere  result  of  successful  indiscre- 
tion. As  before  has  been  remarked,  Miltiades,  while  prince  of 
the  Chersonese,  had  seen  service  in  the  Persian  armies ;  and  he 
knew  by  personal  observation  how  many  elements  of  weakness 
lurked  beneath  their  imposing  aspect  of  strength.  He  knew 
that  the  bulk  of  their  troops  no  longer  consisted  of  the  hardy 
shepherds  and  mountaineers  from  Persia  Proper  and  Kurdistan, 
who  won  Cyrus's  battles :  but  that  unwilling  contingents  from 
conquered  nations  now  largely  filled  up  the  Persian  muster-rolls, 
fighting  more  from  compulsion  than  from  any  zeal  in  the  cause 
of  their  masters.  He  had  also  the  sagacity  and  the  spirit  to  ap- 
preciate the  superiority  of  the  Greek  armor  and  organization 
over  the  Asiatic,  notwithstanding  former  reverses.  Above  all, 
he  felt  and  worthily  trusted  the  enthusiasm  of  the  men  under 
his  command.  ^^ 

The  Athenians,  whom  he  led,  had  proved  by  their  new-born 
valor  in  recent  wars  against  the  neighboring  states,  that  "  Lib- 


20  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON, 

erty  and  Equality  of  civic  rights  are  brave,  spirit-stirring  things ; 
and  they  who,  while  under  the  yoke  of  a  despot,  had  been  no 
better  men  of  war  than  any  of  their  neighbors,  as  soon  as  they 
were  free,  became  the  foremost  men  of  all ;  for  each  felt  that  in 
fighting  for  a  free  commonwealth  he  fought  for  himself,  and, 
whatever  he  took  in  hand,  he  was  zealous  to  do  the  work  thor- 
oughly." So  the  nearly  contemporaneous  historian  describes 
the  change  of  spirit  that  was  seen  in  the  Athenians  after  their 
tyrants  were  expelled  ;*  and  Miltiades  knew  that  in  leading  them 
against  the  invading  army,  where  they  had  Hippias,  the  foe  they 
most  hated,  before  them,  he  was  bringing  into  battle  no  ordi- 
nary men,  and  could  calculate  on  no  ordinary  heroism.  As  for 
traitors,  he  was  sure  that,  whatever  treachery  might  lurk  among 
some  of  the  higher-born  and  wealthier  Athenians,  the  rank  and 
file  whom  he  commanded  were  ready  to  do  their  utmost  in  his 
and  their  own  cause.  With  regard  to  future  attacks  from  Asia, 
he  might  reasonably  hope  that  one  victory  would  inspirit  all 
Greece  to  combine  against  the  common  foe  ;  and  that  the  latent 
seeds  of  revolt  and  disunion  in  the  Persian  empire  would  soon 
burst  forth  and  paralyze  its  energies,  so  as  to  leave  Greek  inde- 
pendence secure. 

With  these  hopes  and  risks,  Miltiades,  on  the  afternoon  of  a 
September  day,  490  B.C.,  gave  the  word  for  the  Athenian  army 
to  prepare  for  battle.  There  were  many  local  associations 
connected  with  those  mountain  heights  which  were  calculated 
powerfully  to  excite  the  spirits  of  the  men,  and  of  which  the 
commanders  well  knew  how  to  avail  themselves  in  their  exhor- 
tations to  their  troops  before  the  encounter.  Marathon  itself 
was  a  region  sacred  to  Hercules.  Close  to  them  was  the  foun- 
tain of  Macaria,  who  had  in  days  of  yore  devoted  herself  to 

*  'AQrivaXoi  fiiv  vvv  rjv^rjvro '  dt}\oX  6k  oh  kut  'kv  fiovov  dWd  Travraxv  V 
'lariyopir}  ujg  ecrri  XP^H'^  aTrovdalov,  il  Kai  'AOrjvaioi  Tvpavvtvofxivoi  fikv  oi- 
dafiov  tS)v  tr^sag  TrepioiKSovTOJV  taav  rd.  'TroXefiia  afxeivovg  diraXXaxOivreQ  5i 
Tvpdpvujv  fiaieptii  irpCJTOi  lysvovTO '  drjXot  Siv  ravra  on  KUTixofxivoi  p.kv  iB%- 
XoKciKeov,  i)Q  ciOTorr]  epya^outvoi '  kXivOeptoOivTujv  St  avrbg  'iKaarog  iwvr^ 
irpoOvfxeero  Kartpydl^wBai. — Herod.,  lib.  v.,  c.  87. 

Mr.  Grote's  comment  on  this  is  one  of  the  most  eloquent  and  philosophical 
passages  in  his  admirable  Fourth  Volume. 

The  expression  'lariyopir]  xPHt^^  aTrovdalov  is  like  some  lines  in  old  Bar- 
bour's poem  of  "  The  Bruce :" 

"  Ah,  Freedome  is  a  noble  thing : 
Fredorae  makes  man  to  haiff  lyking. 
Fredome  all  solace  to  men  gives : 
He  lives  at  ease,  that  freely  lives." 


BATTLE  OF  MARATHON. 


21 


death  for  the  liberty  of  her  people.  The  very  plain  on  which 
they  were  to  fight  was  the  scene  of  the  exploits  of  their  national 
hero,  Theseus ;  and  there,  too,  as  old  legends  told,  the  Athe- 
nians and  the  Heraclidaj  had  routed  the  invader,  Eurystheus. 
These  traditions  were  not  mere  cloudy  myths  or  idle  fictions, 
but  matters  of  implicit,  earnest  faith  to  the  men  of  that  day  ;  and 
many  a  fervent  prayer  arose  from  the  Athenian  ranks  to  the 
heroic  spirits  who,  while  on  earth,  had  striven  and  suffered  on 
that  very  spot,  and  who  were  believed  to  be  now  heavenly  pow- 
ers, looking  down  with  interest  on  their  still  beloved  country, 
and  capable  of  interposing  with  superhuman  aid  in  its  behalf. 


PLAN    OF   THE  BATTLE    OF   MARATHON. 


According  to  old  national  custom,  the  warriors  of  each  tribe 
were  arrayed  together;  neighbor  thus  fighting  by  the  side  of 
neighbor,  friend  by  friend,  and  the  spirit  of  emulation  and  the 
consciousness  of  responsibility  excited  to  the  very  utmost.  The 
War-Ruler,  Callimachus,  had  the  leading  of  the  right  wing ;  the 
Plata^ans  formed  the  extreme  left ;  and  Themistocles  and  Aris- 
tides  commanded  the  centre.  The  line  consisted  of  the  heavy- 
armed  spearmen  only.     For  the  Greeks  (until  the  time  of  Iphic- 


/ 


22  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON. 

rates)  took  little  or  no  account  of  light-armed  soldiers  in  a 
pitched  battle,  using  them  only  in  skirmishes  or  for  the  pursuit 
of  a  defeated  enemy.  The  panoply  of  the  regular  infantry  con- 
sisted of  a  long  spear,  of  a  shield,  helmet,  breast-plate,  greaves, 
and  short  sword.  Thus  equipped,  they  usually  advanced  slowly 
and  steadily  into  action  in  a  uniform  phalanx  of  about  eight 
spears  deep.  But  the  military  genius  of  Miltiades  led  him  to 
deviate  on  this  occasion  from  the  commonplace  tactics  of  his 
countrymen.  It  was  essential  for  him  to  extend  his  line  so  as 
to  cover  all  the  practicable  ground,  and  to  secure  himself  from 
being  outflanked  and  charged  in  the  rear  by  the  Persian  horse. 
This  extension  involved  the  weakening  of  his  line.  Instead  of 
a  uniform  reduction  of  its  strength,  he  determined  on  detach- 
ing principally  from  his  centre,  which^  from  the  nature  of  the 
ground,  would  have  the  best  opportunities  for  rallying  if  broken ; 
and  on  strengthening  his  wings,  so  as  to  insure  advantage  at 
those  points  ;  and  he  trusted  to  his  own  skill,  and  to  his  soldier's 
discipline,  for  the  improvement  of  that  advantage  into  decisive 
victory.* 

In  this  order,  and  availing  himself  probably  of  the  inequalities 
of  the  ground,  so  as  to  conceal  his  preparations  from  the  enemy 
till  the  last  possible  moment,  Miltiades  drew  up  the  eleven 
thousand  infantry  whose  spears  were  to  decide  this  crisis  in  the 
struggle  between  the  European  and  the  Asiatic  worlds.  The 
sacrifices  by  which  the  favor  of  Heaven  was  sought,  and  its  will 
consulted,  were  announced  to  show  propitious  omens.  The 
trumpet  sounded  for  action,  and,  chanting  the  hymn  of  battle, 
the  little  army  bore  down  upon  the  host  of  the  foe.  Then,  too, 
along  the  mountain  slopes  of  Marathon  must  have  resounded  the 
mutual  exhortation  which  ^schylus,  who  fought  in  both  battles, 
tells  us  was  afterwards  heard  over  the  waves  of  Salamis — "  On, 
sons  of  the  Greeks !  Strike  for  the  freedom  of  your  country ! 
strike  for  the  freedom  of  your  children  and  of  your  wives — for 
the  shrines  of  your  fathers'  gods,  and  for  the  sepulchres  of  your 
sires.     All — all  are  now  staked  upon  the  strife !" 

*  It  is  remarkable  that  there  is  no  other  instance  of  a  Greek  general  devi- 
ating from  the  ordinary  mode  of  bringing  a  phalanx  of  spearmen  into  action, 
until  the  battles  of  Leuctra  and  Mantineia,  more  than  a  century  after  Mara- 
thon, when  Epaminondas  introduced  the  tactics  (which  Alexander  the  Great 
in  ancient  times,  and  Frederick  the  Great  in  modern  times,  made  so  famous) 
of  concentrating  an  overpowering  force  on  some  decisive  point  of  the  enemy's 
line,  while  he  kept  back,  or,  in  military  phrase,  refused  the  weaker  part  of 
his  own. 


BATTLE  OF  MARATHON.  23 

'Q  TralSeg  ''EWrfviov,  ire 
'E\ev9epovTt  TrarpiS',  tXevOepovrs  de 
TlalSag,  yvvaiKai;,  9ea>v  re  Trarpwwv  eSij, 
OfjKag  TE  TrpoySvojv.     Nwv  vTrip  Trdvrojv  ayutv.* 

Instead  of  advancing  at  the  usual  slow  pace  of  the  phalanx, 
Miltiades  brought  his  men  on  at  a  run.  They  were  all  trained 
in  the  exercises  of  the  palaestra,  so  that  there  was  no  fear  of  their 
ending  the  charge  in  breathless  exhaustion ;  and  it  was  of  the 
deepest  importance  for  him  to  traverse  as  rapidly  as  possible  the 
space  of  about  a  mile  of  level  ground  that  lay  between  the 
mountain  foot  and  the  Persian  outposts,  and  so  to  get  his  troops 
into  close  action  before  the  Asiatic  cavalry  could  mount,  form, 
and  manoeuvre  against  him,  or  their  archers  keep  him  long  un- 
der bow-shot,  and  before  the  enemy's  generals  could  fairly  de- 
ploy their  masses. 

*'  When  the  Persians,"  says  Herodotus,  "  saw  the  Athenians 
running  down  on  them,  without  horse  or  bowmen,  and  scanty  in 
numbers,  they  thought  them  a  set  of  madmen  rushing  upon  cer- 
tain destruction."  They  began,  however,  to  prepare  to  receive 
them,  and  the  Eastern  chiefs  arrayed,  as  quickly  as  time  and 
place  allowed,  the  varied  races  who  served  in  their  motley  ranks. 
Mountaineers  from  Hyrcania  and  Afghanistan,  wild  horsemen 
from  the  steppes  of  Khorassan,  the  black  archers  of  Ethiopia, 
swordsmen  from  the  banks  of  the  Indus,  the  Oxus,  the  Euphra- 
tes, and  the  Nile,  made  ready  against  the  enemies  of  the  Great 
King.  But  no  national  cause  inspired  them ^  e^C/^r^  ^hf"  d^^jpio" 
of  native  i*ersians ;  aTrQ  in  bhc  kige  h"ost  tLere  was  no  uniform- 
ity of  language,  creed,  race,  or  military  system.  Still,  amoi 
them  there  were  many  gallant  men,  under  a  veteran  general 
they  were  familiarized  with  victory ;  and  in  contemptuous  coi 
fidence  their  infantry,  which  alone  had  time  to  form,  awaited  th^\ 
Athenian  charge.  On  came  the  Greeks,  with  one  unwavering^ 
line  of  levelled  spears,  against  which  the  light  targets,  the  short 
lances  and  scimitars  of  the  Orientals  offered  weak  defence. 
The  front  rank  of  the  Asiatics  must  have  gone  down  to  a  man 
at  the  first  shock.  Still  they  recoiled  not,  but  strove  by  indi- 
vidual gallantry,  and  by  the  weight  of  numbers,  to  make  up  for 
the  disadvantages  of  weapons  and  tactics,  and  to  bear  back  the 
shallow  line  of  the  Europeans.  In  the  centre,  where  the  native 
Persians  and  the  Saca3  fought,  they  succeeded  in  breaking 
through  the  weaker  part  of  the  Athenian  phalanx ;  and  the  tribes 
led  by  Aristides  and  Themistocles  were,  after  a  brave  resistance, 

*  Persae,  402. 


24  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON, 

driven  back  over  the  plain,  and  chased  by  the  Persians  up  the 
valley  towards  the  inner  country.  There  the  nature  of  the 
ground  gave  the  opportunity  of  rallying  and  renewing  the  strug- 
gle ;  and,  meanwhile,  the  Greek  wings,  where  Miltiades  had  con- 
centrated his  chief  strength,  had  routed  the  Asiatics  opposed  to 
them ;  and  the  Athenian  and  Plataean  officers,  instead  of  pursu- 
ing the  fugitives,  kept  their  troops  well  in  hand,  and  wheeling 
round  they  formed  the  two  wings  together.  Miltiades  instantly 
led  them  against  the  Persian  centre,  which  had  hitherto  been 
triumphant,  but  which  now  fell  back,  and  prepared  to  encounter 
these  new  and  unexpected  assailants.  Aristides  and  Themisto- 
cles  renewed  the  fight  with  their  reorganized  troops,  and  the  full 
force  of  the  Greeks  was  brought  into  close  action  with  the  Per- 
sian and  Sacian  divisions  of  the  enemy.  Datis's  veterans  strove 
hard  to  keep  their  ground,  and  evening  *  was  approaching  be- 
fore the  stern  encounter  was  decided. 

But  the  Persians,  with  their  slight  wicker  shields,  destitute  of 
body-armor,  and  never  taught  by  training  to  keep  the  even  front 
and  act  with  the  regular  movement  of  the  Greek  infantry,  fought 
at  grievous  disadvantage  with  their  shorter  and  feebler  weapons 
against  the  compact  array  of  well-armed  Athenian  and  Plataean 
spearmen,  all  perfectly  drilled  to  perform  each  necessary  evolu- 
tion in  concert,  and  to  preserve  a  uniform  and  unwavering  line 
in  battle.  In  personal  courage  and  in  bodily  activity  the  Per- 
sians were  not  inferior  to  their  adversaries.  Their  spirits  were 
not  yet  cowed  by  the  recollection  of  former  defeats ;  and  they 
lavished  their  lives  freely  rather  than  forfeit  the  fame  which 
they  had  won  by  so  many  victories.  While  their  rear  ranks 
poured  an  incessant  shower  of  arrows  f  over  the  heads  of  their 
comrades,  the  foremost  Persians  kept  rushing  forward,  some- 
times singly,  sometimes  in  desperate  groups  of  twelve  or 
ten,  upon  the  projecting  spears  of  the  Greeks,  striving  to  force 
a  lane  into  the  phalanx,  and  to  bring  their  scimitars  and  dag- 
gers into  play.J     But  the  Greeks  felt  their  superiority,  and 

*  'AW'  ofKtiQ  diTdJffofiBaOa  ^vv  Qedig  Trpbg  koTripq,. 

Aristoph,,  Vespce^  1085. 

f  'EfiaxofJiioO'  avTolat,  Qvfibv  o^ivrjv  TntroiKOTtQ^ 
"^TaQ  dvrjp  Trap\  dvdp',  vir  opytjg  t^v  xeXwj/i;v  laOiwv ' 
'Ytto  Sk  Tuiv  To^evfidriov  ovk  rjv  iSelv  top  ovpavov. 

Aristoph.,  Vespce^  1082. 

X  See  the  description,  in  the  62d  section  of  the  ninth  book  of  Herodotus,  of 
the  gallantry  shown  by  the  Persian  infantry  against  the  Lacedaeraonians  at 
Plataea.  We  have  no  similar  detail  of  the  fight  at  Marathon,  but  we  know 
that  it  was  long  and  obstinately  contested  (see  the  118th  section  of  the  sixth 


BATTLE  OF  MARATHON.  26 

tbough  the  fatigue  of  the  long-continued  action  told  heavily  on 
their  inferior  numbers,  the  sight  of  the  carnage  that  they  dealt 
among  their  assailants  nerved  them  to  fight  still  more  fiercely  on. 
At  last  the  previously  unvanquished  lords  of  Asia  turned 
their  backs  and  fled,  and  the  Greeks  followed,  striking  them 
down,  to  the  water's  edge,*  where  the  invaders  were  now 
hastily  launching  their  galleys,  and  seeking  to  embark  and  fly. 
Flushed  with  success,  the  Athenians  dashed  at  the  fleet. 
"  Bring  fire,  bring  fire,"  was  their  cry  ;  and  they  began  to  lay 
hold  of  the  ships.  But  here  the  Asiatics  resisted  desperately 
and  the  principal  loss  sustained  by  the  Greeks  was  in  the  as 
sault  on  the  fleet.  Here  fell  the  brave  War-Ruler  Callimachus, 
the  general  Stesilaus,  and  other  Athenians  of  note.  Conspicu 
ous  among  them  was  Cynsegeirus,  the  brother  of  the  tragic  poet 
^schylus.  He  had  grasped  the  ornamental  work  on  the  stern 
of  one  of  the  galleys,  and  had  his  hand  struck  off  by  an  axe.f 

book  of  Herodotus,  and  the  lines  from  the  "Vespae"  already  quoted),  and 
the  spirit  of  the  Persians  must  have  been  even  higher  at  Marathon  tlian  at 
Plataea.     In  both  battles  it  was  only  the  true  Persians  and  the  Sacse  who 
showed  this  valor ;  the  other  Asiatics  fled  like  sheep. 
*  "  The  flying  Mede,  his  shaftless  broken  bow ; 

The  fiery  Greek,  his  red  pursuing  spear ; 

Mountains  above,  Earth's,  Ocean's  plain  below, 

Death  in  the  front,  Destruction  in  the  rear ! 

Such  was  the  scene." — Byron's  Childe  Harold. 
f  Mr.  Grote  well  remarks  that  this  battle  of  the  ships  must  have  emphati- 
cally recalled  to  jEschylus  (and  others  of  the  Athenian  combatants)  the  fif- 
teenth book  of  the  Iliad  : 

kvTiQ  de  dpifitta  fJidxn  irapa  vrfvffiv  Itvx^^  ' 
<pairiQ  K  dKurJTag  Kai  aTupeag  dWr/Xotoriv 
dvTecrO'  Iv  7ro\s^<^  •  iog  sffavfi'svtog  kfidxovro. 

"EKTOjp  dt  irpv^vriQ  vibg  rj^paro  irovToiropoiOf 
KoKrig,  wKvdXov^  r)  ITjOairgcriXaov  Ivstfcev 
kg  Tpoir]v,  ovd'  avrig  dirriyayi  TruTpida  ydiav. 
Tovirep  drj  Ttepi  vrjog  'A^atot  re  Tpwsg  re 
dyovv  &\Xi]\ovg  avTO<rx^Sov'  ovd'  dpa  roiye 
ro^iov  aiKug  dfitpig  fisvov,  ov6k  t   aKovrutv^ 
dX\'  oiy  lyyvOiv  iardfievoi,  'iva  9vfi6v  ex^^'^'^Sf 
6^k(Ti  drj  TreXkKiaoi  Kai  d^ivyai  ndxovTo, 
Kai  ^i^emv  (ityakoiai  Kai  tyx^ffiv  dfKjuyvoimv, 
TToWd  dk  ipdayava  KaXd,  fid^dvdira,  Kmin^ivTa, 
ahXa  fikv  Ik  x^^P^^  X^/^dSig  iriaov,  aXka  d'  dir    ujfuov 
dvdpuJv  uapvan'ivuiv '  pke  d'  a'ijxaTi  yala  fikXaiva. 
"Ektw/o  ok  irpvfivr]9tv  k^rd  Xdjiev,  ovxi  fiiOiei, 
d^Xaarov  fierd  x^P^^'^  tx<^v,  Tpuxriv  6i  KtXivtv ' 

OlffSTi  irvpf  tifia  d'  avroi  doXXssg  bpvvT  dvTr)v ! 
vvv  r'liMv  TTavTwv  Zevg  d^iov  iifiap  iSuiKsv, 
vr^ag  iXtlv,  at  devpo  Oeuiv  dsKrin  fioXovaaif 
rjfxiv  TrfifiUTa  iroXXd  Ohav,  kukottiti  ytpovTitiV- 


( 


26  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON. 

Seven  galleys  were  captured ;  but  the  Persians  succeeded  m 
saving  the  rest.  They  pushed  off  from  the  fatal  shore ;  but 
even  here  the  skill  of  Datis  did  not  desert  him,  and  he  sailed 
round  to  the  western  coast  of  Attica,  in  hopes  to  find  the  city 
unprotected,  and  to  gain  possession  of  it  from  some  of  the  par- 
tisans of  Hippias.  Miltiades,  however,  saw  and  counteracted 
his  manoeuvre.  Leaving  Aristides,  and  the  troops  of  his  tribe, 
to  guard  the  spoil  and  the  slain,*  the  Athenian  commander  led 
his  conquering  army  by  a  rapid  night-march  back  across  the 
country  to  Athens.  And  when  the  Persian  fleet  had  doubled 
the  Cape  of  Sunium  and  sailed  up  to  the  Athenian  harbor  in  the 
morning,  Datis  saw  arrayed  on  the  heights  above  the  city  the 
troops  before  whom  his  men  had  fled  on  the  preceding  evening. 
All  hope  of  further  conquest  in  Europe  for  the  time  was  aban- 
doned, and  the  baffled  armada  returned  to  the  Asiatic  coasts. 

After  the  battle  had  been  fought,  but  while  the  dead  bodies 
were  yet  on  the  ground,  the  promised  reinforcement  from  Sparta 
arrived.  Two  thousand  Lacedaemonian  spearmen,  starting  im- 
mediately after  the  full  moon,  had  marched  the  hundred  and 

"  Then  again  there  grew 
A  bitter  conflict  at  the  fleet :  you  would  have  said  none  drew 
A  weary  breath,  nor  ever  would,  they  laid  so  freshly  on. 

*  *  *  *  Great  Hector  still  directs 

His  power  against  the  first  near  ship.     'Twas  that  fair  bark  that  brought 

Protesilaus  to  the  wars ;  and  now,  herself  to  nought, 

With  many  Greek  and  Trojan  lives  all  spoil'd  about  her  spoil  ; 

One  slew  another  desperately,  and  close  the  deadly  toil 

Was  pitch'd  on  both  parts ;  not  a  shaft,  not  far-off  striking  dart 

Was  used  through  all ;  one  fight  fell  out,  of  one  despiteful  heart ; 

Sharp  axes,  twy bills,  two-hand  swords,  and  spears  with  two  heads  borne 

Were  then  the  weapons ;  fair  short  swords,  with  sanguine  hilts  still  worn, 

Had  use  in  like  sort ;  of  which  last,  ye  might  have  numbers  view'd 

Drop  with  dissolved  arms  from  their  hands,  as  many  downright  hew'd 

From  off  their  shoulders  as  they  fought,  their  bawdries  cut  in  twain ; 

And  thus  the  black  blood  flow'd  on  earth  from  soldiers  hurt  and  slain. 

When  Hector  once  had  seized  the  ship,  he  clapt  his  fair  broad  hand 
Fast  on  the  stern,  and  held  it  there,  and  there  gave  his  command : 

Bring  fire,  and  all  together  shout ;  now  Jove  hath  drawn  the  veil 
From  such  a  day,  as  makes  amends  for  all  his  storms  of  hail ; 
By  whose  blest  light  we  take  those  ships,  that  in  despite  of  heaven 
Took  sea,  and  brought  us  worlds  of  woe." — ChapmarCs  Translation. 

*  "  The  painter  of  the  nobler  schools  might  find  perhaps  few  subjects  wor- 
thier of  his  art  than  Aristides  watching  at  night  amidst  the  torches  of  his 
men  over  the  Plains  of  Marathon,  in  sight  of  the  blue  JEgaean,  no  longer 
crowded  with  the  Barbarian  masts,  and  near  the  white  columns  of  the  Tem- 
ple of  Hercules,  beside  which  the  Athenians  had  pitched  their  camp."— 
Lytton  Bulwer. 


\ 


BATTLE  OF  MARATHON.  27 

fifty  miles  between  Athens  and  Sparta  in  the  wonderfully  short 
time  of  three  days.  Though  too  late  to  share  in  the  glory  of 
the  action,  they  requested  to  be  allowed  to  march  to  the  battle- 
field to  behold  the  Medes.  They  proceeded  thither,  gazed  on 
the  dead  bodies  of  the  invaders,  and  then,  praising  the  Athe- 
nians and  what  they  had  done,  they  returned  to  Lacedsemon. 

The  number  of  the  Persian  dead  was  six  thousand  four  hun- 
dred ;  of  the  Athenians,  a  hundred  and  ninety-two.  The  num- 
ber of  Plataeans  who  fell  is  not  mentioned,  but  as  they  fought 
in  the  part  of  the  army  which  was  not  broken,  it  cannot  have 
been  large. 

The  apparent  disproportion  between  the  losses  of  the  two 
armies  is  not  surprising,  when  we  remember  the  armor  of  the 
Greek  spearmen,  and  the  impossibility  of  heavy  slaughter  being 
inflicted  by  sword  or  lance  on  troops  so  armed,  as  long  as  they 
kept  firm  in  their  ranks.* 

The  Athenian  slain  were  buried  on  the  field  of  battle.  This 
was  contrary  to  the  usual  custom,  according  to  which  the  bones 
of  all  who  fell  fighting  for  their  country  in  each  year  were  de- 
posited in  a  public  sepulchre  in  the  suburb  of  Athens  called  the 
Cerameicus.  But  it  was  felt  that  a  distinction  ought  to  be  made 
in  the  funeral  honors  paid  to  the  men  of  Marathon,  even  as  their 
merit  had  been  distinguished  over  that  of  all  other  Athenians. 
A  lofty  mound  was  raised  on  the  plain  of  Marathon,  beneath 
which  the  remains  of  the  men  of  Athens  who  fell  in  the  battle 
were  deposited.  Ten  columns  were  erected  on  the  spot,  one  for 
each  of  the  Athenian  tribes ;  and  on  the  monumental  column  of 
each  tribe  were  graven  the  names  of  those  of  its  members  whose 
glory  it  was  to  have  fallen  in  the  great  battle  of  liberation.  The 
antiquarj^  Pausanias  read  those  names  there  six  hundred  years 
after  the  time  when  they  were  first  graven. f  The  columns 
have  long  perished,  but  the  mound  still  marks  the  spot  where 
the  noblest  heroes  of  antiquity,  the  Mapadiovofia^oi  repose. 

A  separate  tumulus  was  raised  over  the  bodies  of  the  slain 
Plataeans,  and  another  over  the  light-armed  slaves  who  had  taken 

*  Mitfovd  well  refers  to  Crecy,  Poitiers,  and  Agincourt,  as  instances  of 
similar  disparity  of  loss  between  the  conquerors  and  the  conquered. 

f  Pausanias  states,  with  implicit  belief,  that  the  battle-field  was  haunted 
at  night  by  supernatural  beings,  and  that  the  noise  of  combatants  and  the 
snorting  of  horses  were  heard  to  resound  on  it.  The  superstition  has  sur- 
vived the  change  of  creeds,  and  the  shepherds  of  the  neighborhood  still  be- 
lieve that  spectral  warriors  contend  on  the  plain  at  midnight,  and  they  say 
tliat  they  have  heard  the  shouts  of  the  combatants  and  the  neighing  of  the 
steeds.— See  Grote  and  Thirlwall. 


28  BATTLE  OF  MARATHOJST. 

part  and  had  fallen  in  the  battle.*  There  was  also  a  distinct 
sepulchral  monument  to  the  general  to  whose  genius  the  victory- 
was  mainly  due.  Miltiades  did  not  live  long  after  his  achieve- 
ment at  Marathon,  but  he  lived  long  enough  to  experience  a  lam- 
entable reverse  of  his  popularity  and  good  fortune.  As  soon  as 
the  Persians  had  quitted  the  western  coasts  of  the  JEgean,  he 
proposed  to  an  assembly  of  the  Athenian  people  that  they  should 
fit  out  seventy  galleys,  with  a  proportionate  force  of  soldiers  and 
military  stores,  and  place  them  at  his  disposal ;  not  telling  them 
whither  he  meant  to  proceed,  but  promising  them  that,  if  they 
would  equip  the  force  he  asked  for,  and  give  him  discretionary 
powers,  he  would  lead  it  to  a  land  where  there  was  gold  in  abun- 
dance to  be  won  with  ease.  The  Greeks  at  that  time  believed 
in  the  existence  of  Eastern  realms  teeming  with  gold  as  firmly 
as  the  Europeans  of  the  sixteenth  century  believed  in  an  Eldorado 
of  the  West.  The  Athenians  probably  thought  that  the  recent 
victor  of  Marathon  and  former  ofiicer  of  Darius  was  about  to 
guide  them  on  a  secret  expedition  against  some  wealthy  and 
unprotected  cities  of  treasure  in  the  Persian  dominions.  The 
armament  was  voted  and  equipped,  and  sailed  eastward  from 
Attica,  no  one  but  Miltiades  knowing,  its  destination,  until  the 
Greek  isle  of  Paros  was  reached,  when  his  true  object  appeared. 
In  former  years,  while  connected  with  the  Persians  as  prince  of 
the  Chersonese,  Miltiades  had  been  involved  in  a  quarrel  with 
one  of  the  leading  men  among  the  Parians,  who  had  injured  his 
credit  and  caused  some  slights  to  be  put  upon  him  at  the  court 
of  the  Persian  satrap,  Hydarnes.  The  feud  had  ever  since  ran- 
kled in  the  heart  of  the  Athenian  chief,  and  he  now  attacked 
Paros  for  the  sake  of  avenging  himself  on  his  ancient  enemy. 
His  pretext,  as  general  of  the  Athenians,  was,  that  the  Parians 
had  aided  the  armament  of  Datis  with  a  war-galley.  The  Pari- 
ans, pretended  to  treat  about  terms  of  surrender,  but  used  the 
time  which  they  thus  gained  in  repairing  the  defective  parts  of 
the  fortifications  of  their  city  ;  and  they  then  set  the  Athenians 
at  defiance.  So  far,  says  Herodotus,  the  accounts  of  all  the 
Greeks  agree.  But  the  Parians,  in  after-years,  told  also  a  wild 
legend,  how  a  captive  priestess  of  a  Parian  temple  of  the  deities 
of  the  earth  promised  Miltiades  to  give  him  the  means  of  captur- 
ing Paros :  how,  at  her  bidding,  the  Athenian  general  went  alone 
at  night  and  forced  his  way  into  a  holy  shrine  near  the  city  gate, 

*  It  is  probable  that  the  Greek  light-armed  irregulars  were  active  in  the 
attack  on  the  Persian  ships,  and  it  was  in  this  attack  that  the  Greeks  suf- 
fered their  principal  loss. 


BATTLE  OF  MARATHON.  29 

but  with  what  purpose  it  was  not  known :  how  a  supernatural 
awe  canie  over  him,  and  in  his  flight  he  fell  and  fractured  his 
leg :  how  an  oracle  afterwards  forbade  the  Parians  to  punish  the 
sacrilegious  and  traitorous  priestess,  "  because  it  was  fated  that 
Miltiades  should  come  to  an  ill  end,  and  she  was  only  the  instru- 
ment to  lead  him  to  evil."  Such  was  the  tale  that  Herodotus 
heard  at  Paros.  Certain  it  was  that  Miltiades  either  dislocated 
or  broke  his  leg  during  an  unsuccessful  siege  of  that  city,  and 
returned  home  in  evil  plight  with  his  baffled  and  defeated  forces. 
The  indignation  of  the  Athenians  was  proportionate  to  the 
hope  and  excitement  which  his  promises  had  raised.  Xanthip- 
pus,  the  head  of  one  of  the  first  families  in  Athens,  indicted 
him  before  the  supreme  popular  tribunal  for  the  capital  offence 
of  having  deceived  the  people.  His  guilt  was  undeniable,  and 
the  Athenians  passed  their  verdict  accordingly.  But  the  recol- 
lections of  Lemnos  and  Marathon  and  the  sight  of  the  fallen 
general,  who  lay  stretched  on  a  couch  before  them,  pleaded 
successfully  in  mitigation  of  punishment,  and  the  sentence  was 
commuted  from  death  to  a  fine  of  fifty  talents.  This  was  paid 
by  his  son,  the  afterwards  illustrious  Cimon,  Miltiades  dying, 
soon  after  the  trial,  of  the  injury  which  he  had  received  at  Paros.* 

*  The  commonplace  calumnies  against  the  Athenians  respecting  Miltiades 
have  been  well  answered  by  Sir  Edward  Bulwer  Lytton  in  his  "  Rise  and  Fall 
of  Athens,"  and  Bishop  Thirlwall,  in  the  second  volume  of  his  "  History  of 
Greece ;"  but  they  have  received  their  most  complete  refutation  from  Mr. 
Grote,  in  the  fourth  volume  of  his  History,  pp.  490  et  seq.,  and  notes.  I 
quite  concur  with  him  that,  "  looking  to  the  practice  of  the  Athenian  dicas- 
tery  in  criminal  cases,  fifty  talents  was  the  minor  penalty  actually  proposed 
by  the  defenders  of  Miltiades  themselves  as  a  substitute  for  the  punishment 
of  death.  In  those  penal  cases  at  Athens  where  the  punishment  was  not 
fixed  beforehand  by  the  terms  of  the  law,  if  the  person  accused  was  found 
guilty  it  was  customary  to  submit  to  the  jurors,  subsequently  and  separately, 
the  question  as  to  the  amount  of  punishment.  First,  the  accuser  named  the 
penalty  which  he  thought  suitable ;  next,  the  accused  person  was  called  upon 
to  name  an  amount  of  penalty  for  himself,  and  the  jurors  were  constrained  to 
take  their  choice  between  these  two ;  no  third  gradation  of  penalty  being 
admissible  for  consideration.  Of  course,  under  such  circumstances,  it  was 
the  interest  of  the  accused  party  to  name,  even  in  his  own  case,  some  real 
and  serious  penalty,  something  which  the  jurors  might  be  likely  to  deem  not 
wholly  inadequate  to  his  crime  just  proved ;  for  if  he  proposed  some  penalty 
only  trifling,  he  drove  them  to  prefer  the  heavier  sentence  recommended  by 
his  opponent."  The  stories  of  Miltiades  having  been  cast  into  prison  and 
dying  there,  and  of  his  having  been  saved  from  death  only  by  the  interposition 
of  the  Prytanis  of  the  day,  are,  I  think,  rightly  rejected  by  Mr.  Grote  as  the 
fictions  of  after-ages.  The  silence  of  Herodotus  respecting  them  is  decisive. 
It  is  true  that  Plato,  in  the  *'  Gorgias,"  says  that  the  Athenians  passed  a  vote 
to  throw  Miltiades  into  the  Barathrum,  and  speaks  of  the  interposition  of  the 


so  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON. 

The  melanclioly  end  of  Miltiades,  after  his  elevation  to  such  a 
height  of  power  and  glory,  must  often  have  been  recalled  to  the 
mind  of  the  ancient  Greeks  by  the  sight  of  one,  in  particular,  of 
the  memorials  of  the  great  battle  which  he  won.  This  was  the 
remarkable  statue  (minutely  described  by  Pausanias)  which  the 
Athenians,  in  the  time  of  Pericles,  caused  to  be  hewn  out  of  a 
huge  block  of  marble,  which,  it  was  believed,  had  been  provided 
by  Datis  to  form  a  trophy  of  the  anticipated  victory  of  the  Per- 
sians. Phidias  fashioned  out  of  this  a  colossal  image  of  the 
goddess  Nemesis,  the  deity  whose  peculiar  function  was  to  visit 
the  exuberant  prosperity  both  of  nations  and  individuals  with 
sudden  and  awful  reverses.  This  statue  was  placed  in  a  temple 
of  the  goddess  at  Rhamnus,  about  eight  miles  from  Marathon. 
Athens  herself  contained  numerous  memorials  of  her  primary 
great  victory.  Panenus,  the  cousin  of  Phidias,  represented  it 
in  fresco  on  the  walls  of  the  painted  porch ;  and,  centuries  after- 
wards, the  figures  of  Miltiades  and  Callimachus  at  the  head  of 
the  Athenians  were  conspicuous  in  the  fresco.  The  tutelary 
deities  were  exhibited  taking  part  in  the  fray.  In  the  back- 
ground were  seen  the  Phoenician  galleys ;  and  nearer  to  the  spec- 
tator the  Athenians  and  Platseans  (distinguished  by  their  leath- 
ern helmets)  were  chasing  routed  Asiatics  into  the  marshes  and 
the  sea.  The  battle  was  sculptured,  also,  on  the  Temple  of  Vic- 
tory in  the  Acropolis ;  and  even  now  there  may  be  traced  on 
the  frieze  the  figures  of  the  Persian  combatants  with  their  lunar 
shields,  their  bows  and  quivers,  their  curved  scimitars,  their 
loose  trousers,  and  Phrygian  tiaras.* 

These  and  other  memorials  of  Marathon  were  the  produce  of 
the  meridian  age  of  Athenian  intellectual  splendor — of  the  age 
of  Phidias  and  Pericles.  For  it  was  not  merely  by  the  genera- 
tion of  men  whom  the  battle  liberated  from  Hippias  and  the 
Medes  that  the  transcendent  importance  of  their  victory  was 
gratefully  recognized.  Through  the  whole  epoch  of  her  pros- 
perity, through  the  long  Olympiads  of  her  decay,  through  cent- 


Prytanis  in  his  favor ;  but  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  Plato,  with  all  his 
transcendent  genius,  was  (as  Niebuhr  has  termed  him)  a  very  indifferent 
patriot,  who  loved  to  blacken  the  character  of  his  country's  democratic  insti- 
tutions ;  and  if  the  fact  was  that  the  Prytanis,  at  the  trial  of  Miltiades,  op- 
posed the  vote  of  capital  punishment,  and  spoke  in  favor  of  the  milder  sen- 
tence,  Plato  (in  a  passage  written  to  show  the  misfortunes  which  befell  Athe- 
nian statesmen)  would  readily  exaggerate  this  fact  into  the  story  that  appears 
in  his  text, 
*  Wordsworth's  "Greece,"  p.  115. 


BATTLE  OF  MARATHON.  31 

uries  after  her  fall,  Athens  looted  back  on  the  day  of  Marathon 
as  the  brightest  of  her  national  existence. 

By  a  natural  blending  of  patriotic  pride  with  grateful  piety, 
the  very  spirits  of  the  Athenians  who  fell  at  Marathon  were  dei- 
fied by  their  countrymen.  The  inhabitants  of  the  districts  of 
Marathon  paid  religious  rites  to  them,  and  orators  solemnly 
invoked  them  in  their  most  impassioned  adjurations  before  the 
assembled  men  of  Athens.  "  Nothing  was  omitted  that  could 
keep  alive  the  remembrance  of  a  deed  which  had  first  taught 
the  Athenian  people  to  know  its  own  strength  by  measuring  it 
with  the  power  which  had  subdued  the  greater  part  of  the  known 
world.  The  consciousness  thus  awakened  fixed  its  character, 
its  station,  and  its  destiny ;  it  was  the  spring  of  its  later  great 
actions  and  ambitious  enterprises."  * 

It  was  not,  indeed,  by  one  defeat,  however  signal,  that  the 
pride  of  Persia  could  be  broken  and  her  dreams  of  universal 
empire  be  dispelled.  Ten  years  afterwards  she  renewed  her 
attempts  upon  Europe  on  a  grander  scale  of  enterprise,  and  was 
repulsed  by  Greece  with  greater  and  reiterated  loss.  Larger 
forces  and  heavier  slaughter  than  had  been  seen  at  Marathon 
signalized  the  conflicts  of  Greeks  and  Persians  at  Artemisium, 
Salamis,  Platsea,  and  the  Eurymedon.  But,  mighty  and  momen- 
tous as  these  battles  were,  they  rank  not  with  Marathon  in  impor- 
tance. They  originated  no  new  impulse.  They  turned  back  no 
current  of  fate.  They  were  merely  confirmatory  of  the  already 
existing  bias  which  Marathon  had  created.  The  day  of  Mara- 
thon is  the  critical  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  two  nations.  It 
broke  forever  the  spell  of  Persian  invincibility  which  had  par- 
alyzed men's  minds.  It  generated  among  the  Greeks  the  spirit 
which  beat  back  Xerxes,  and  afterwards  led  on  Xenophon,  Ages- 
ilaus,  and  Alexander,  in  terrible  retaliation,  through  their  Asiatic 
campaigns.  It  secured  for  mankind  the  intellectual  treasures  of 
Athens,  the  growth  of  free  institutions,  the  liberal  enlightenment 
of  the  Western  world,  and  the  gradual  ascendency  for  many 
ages  of  the  great  principles  of  European  civilization. 


EXPLANATORY    REMARKS  ON    SOME    OF   THE    CIRCUMSTANCES 
OF  THE  BATTLE   OF  MARATHON. 

Nothing  is  said  by  Herodotus  of  the  Persian  cavalry  taking 
any  part  in  the  battle,  although  he  mentions  that  Hippias  rec- 

*  Thirlwall. 


82  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON, 

ommeuded  the  Persians  to  land  at  Marathon,  because  the  plain 
was  favorable  for  cavalry  evolutions.  In  the  life  of  Miltiades, 
which  is  usually  cited  as  the  production  of  Cornelius  Ncpos,  but 
which  I  believe  to  be  of  no  authority  whatever,  it  is  said  that 
Miltiades  protected  his  flanks  from  the  enemy's  horse  by  an  abat- 
tis  of  felled  trees.  While  he  was  on  the  high  ground  he  would 
not  have  required  this  defence  ;  and  it  is  not  likely  that  the  Per- 
sians would  have  allowed  him  to  erect  it  on  the  plain. 

Bishop  Thirl  wall  calls  our  attention  to  a  passage  in  Suidas, 
where  the  proverb  Xwptc  'nrirEiQ  is  said  to  have  originated  from 
some  Ionian  Greeks,  who  were  serving  compulsorily  in  the  army 
of  Datis,  contriving  to  inform  Miltiades  that  the  Persian  cavalry 
had  gone  away,  whereupon  Miltiades  immediately  joined  battle 
and  gained  the  victory.  There  may  probably  be  a  gleam  of 
truth  in  this  legend.  If  Datis's  cavalry  was  numerous,  as  the 
abundant  pastures  of  Euboea  were  close  at  hand,  the  Persian 
general,  when  he  thought,  from  the  inaction  of  his  enemy,  that 
they  did  not  mean  to  come  down  from  the  heights  and  give  bat- 
tle, might  naturally  send  the  larger  part  of  his  horse  back  across 
the  channel  to  the  neighborhood  of  Eretria,  where  he  had  already 
left  a  detachment,  and  where  his  military  stores  must  have  been 
deposited.  The  knowledge  of  such  a  movement  would  of  course 
confirm  Miltiades  in  his  resolution  to  bring  on  a  speedy  engage- 
ment. 

But,  m  truth,  whatever  amount  of  cavalry  we  suppose  Datis 
to  have  had  with  him  on  the  day  of  Marathon,  their  inaction  in 
the  battle  is  intelligible,  if  we  believe  the  attack  of  the  Athenian 
spearmen  to  have  been  as  sudden  as  it  was  rapid.  The  Persian 
horse-soldier,  on  an  alarm  being  given,  had  to  take  the  shackles 
off  his  horse,  to  strap  the  saddle  on,  and  bridle  him,  besides 
equipping  himself  (see  Xenoph.,  Anab.,  lib.  iii.,  c.  4) ;  and  when 
each  individual  horseman  was  ready,  the  line  had  to  be  formed  ; 
and  the  time  that  it  takes  to  form  the  Oriental  cavalry  in  line 
for  a  charge  has,  in  all  ages,  been  observed  by  Europeans. 

The  wet  state  of  the  marshes  at  each  end  of  the  plain,  in  the 
time  of  year  when  the  battle  was  fought,  has  been  adverted  to  by 
Mr.  Wordsworth ;  and  this  would  hinder  the  Persian  general  from 
arranging  and  employing  his  horsemen  on  his  extreme  wings, 
while  it  also  enabled  the  Greeks,  as  they  came  forward,  to  occupy 
the  whole  breadth  of  the  practicable  ground  with  an  unbroken 
line  of  levelled  spears,  against  which,  if  any  Persian  horse  ad- 
vanced, they  would  be  driven  back  in  confusion  upon  their  own 
foot. 


BATTLE  OF  MARATHON.  33 

Even  numerous  and  fully  arrayed  bodies  of  cavalry  have  been 
repeatedly  broken,  both  in  ancient  and  modern  warfare,  by  res- 
olute charges  of  infantry.  For  instance,  it  was  by  an  attack  of 
some  picked  cohorts  that  Caesar  routed  the  Pompeian  cavalry, 
which  had  previously  defeated  his  own  at  Pharsalia. 

I  have  represented  the  battle  of  Marathon  as  beginning  in  the 
afternoon  and  ending  towards  evening.  If  it  had  lasted  all  day, 
Herodotus  would  have  probably  mentioned  that  fact.  That  it 
ended  towards  evening  is,  I  think,  proved  by  the  line  from  the 
"  Vespae  "  which  I  have  already  quoted,  and  to  which  my  atten- 
tion was  called  by  Sir  Edward  Bulwer  Lytton's  account  of  the 
battle.  I  think  that  the  succeeding  lines  in  Aristophanes,  also 
already  quoted,  justify  the  description  which  I  have  given  of 
the  rear  ranks  of  the  Persians  keeping  up  a  flight  of  arrows  over 
the  heads  of  their  comrades  against  the  Greeks.   ' 

SYNOPSIS  OF  EVENTS  BETWEEN  THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON, 
B.C.  490,  AND  THE  DEFEAT  OF  THE  ATHENIANS  AT  SYRA- 
CUSE, B.C.  413. 

B.C.  490  to  487.  All  Asia  is  filled  with  the  preparations  made 
by  King  Darius  for  a  new  expedition  against  Greece.  Themis- 
tocles  persuades  the  Athenians  to  leave  off  dividing  the  proceeds 
of  their  silver  mines  among  themselves,  and  to  employ  the  money 
in  strengthening  their  navy. 

487.  Egypt  revolts  from  the  Persians,  and  delays  the  expedi- 
tion against  Greece. 

485.  Darius  dies,  and  Xerxes,  his  son,  becomes  King  of  Per- 
sia in  his  stead. 

484.  The  Persians  recover  Egypt. 

480.  Xerxes  invades  Greece.  Indecisive  actions  between  the 
Persian  and  Greek  fleets  at  Artemisium.  Destruction  of  the 
three  hundred  Spartans  at  Thermopylae.  The  Athenians  aban- 
don Attica  and  go  on  shipboard.  Great  naval  victory  of  the 
Greeks  at  Salamis.  Xerxes  returns  to  Asia,  leaving  a  chosen 
army  under  Mardonius  to  carry  on  the  war  against  the  Greeks. 

478.  Mardonius  and  his  army  destroyed  by  the  Greeks  at 
Plataea.  The  Greeks  land  in  Asia  Minor,  and  defeat  a  Persian 
force  at  Mycale.  In  this  and  the  following  years  the  Persians 
lose  all  their  conquests  in  Europe,  and  many  on  the  coast  of 
Asia. 

477.  Many  of  the  Greek  maritime  states  take  Athens  as  their 
leader,  instead  of  Sparta. 


34  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON. 

466.  Victories  of  Cimon  over  the  Persians  at  the  Eurymedon. 

464.  Revolt  of  the  Helots  against  Sparta.  Third  Messenian 
war. 

460.  Egypt  again  revolts  against  Persia.  The  Athenians  send 
a  powerful  armament  to  aid  the  Egyptians,  which,  after  gaining 
some  successes,  is  destroyed,  and  Egypt  submits.  This  war 
lasted  six  years. 

457.  Wars  in  Greece  between  the  Athenian  and  several  Pelo- 
ponnesian  states.  Immense  exertions  of  Athens  at  this  time. 
"  There  is  an  original  inscription  still  preserved  in  the  Louvre, 
which  attests  the  energies  of  Athens  at  this  crisis,  when  Athens, 
like  England  in  modern  wars,  at  once  sought  conquests  abroad, 
and  repelled  enemies  at  home.  At  the  period  we  now  advert 
to  (B.C.  457),  an  Athenian  armament  of  two  hundred  galleys 
was  engaged  in  a  bold  though  unsuccessful  expedition  against 
Egypt.  The  Athenian  crews  had  landed,  had  won  a  battle ; 
they  had  then  re-embarked  and  sailed  up  the  Nile,  and  were 
busily  besieging  the  Persian  garrison  in  Memphis.  As  the  com- 
plement of  a  trireme  galley  was  at  least  two  hundred  men,  we 
cannot  estimate  the  forces  then  employed  by  Athens  against 
Egypt  at  less  than  forty  thousand  men.  At  the  same  time  she 
kept  squadrons  on  the  coasts  of  Phoenicia  and  Cyprus,  and  yet 
maintained  a  home  fleet  that  enabled  her  to  defeat  her  Pelopon- 
nesian  enemies  at  Cecryphalae  and  JEgina,  capturing  in  the  last 
engagement  seventy  galleys.  This  last  fact  may  give  us  some 
idea  of  the  strength  of  the  Athenian  home  fleet  that  gained  the 
victory ;  and  by  adopting  the  same  ratio  of  multiplying  what- 
ever number  of  galleys  we  suppose  to  have  been  employed  by 
two  hundred,  so  as  to  gain  the  aggregate  number  of  the  crews, 
we  may  form  some  estimate  of  the  forces  which  this  little  Greek 
state  then  kept  on  foot.  Between  sixty  and  seventy  thousand 
men  must  have  served  in  her  fleets  during  that  year.  Her  tenac- 
ity of  purpose  was  equal  to  her  boldness  of  enterprise.  Sooner 
than  yield  or  withdraw  from  any  of  their  expeditions,  the  Athe- 
nians at  this  very  time,  when  Corinth  sent  an  army  to  attack 
their  garrison  at  Megara,  did  not  recall  a  single  crew  or  a  sin- 
gle soldier  from  ^gina  or  from  abroad ;  but  the  lads  and  old 
men,  who  had  been  left  to  guard  the  city,  fought  and  won  a 
battle  against  these  new  assailants.  The  inscription  which  we 
have  referred  to  is  graven  on  a  votive  tablet  to  the  memory  of 
the  dead,  erected  in  that  year  by  the  Erecthean  tribe,  one  of  the 
ten  into  which  the  Athenians  were  divided.  It  shows,  as  Thirl- 
wall  has  remarked,  Hhat  the  Athenians  were  conscious  of  the 


BATTLE  OF  MARATHON.  35 

greatness  of  their  own  effort ;'  and  in  it  this  little  civic  commu- 
nity of  the  ancient  world  still  *  records  to  us  with  emphatic  sim- 
plicity that  "  its  slain  fell  in  Cyprus,  in  Egypt,  in  Phoenicia,  at 
Halise,  in  ^gina,  and  in  Megara,  in  the  same  year^  ' "  * 

455.  A  thirty  years'  truce  concluded  between  Athens  and 
Lacedsemon. 

440.  The  Samians  endeavor  to  throw  off  the  supremacy  of 
Athens.  Samos  completely  reduced  to  subjection.  Pericles  is 
now  sole  director  of  the  Athenian  councils. 

431.  Commencement  of  the  great  Peloponnesian  war,  in  which 
Sparta,  at  the  head  of  nearly  all  the  Peloponnesian  states,  and 
aided  by  the  Boeotians  and  some  of  the  other  Greeks  beyond 
the  Isthmus,  endeavors  to  reduce  the  power  of  Athens,  and  to 
restore  independence  to  the  Greek  maritime  states  who  were  the 
subject  allies  of  Athens.  At  the  commencement  of  the  war  the 
Peloponnesian  armies  repeatedly  invade  and  ravage  Attica,  but 
Athens  herself  is  impregnable,  and  her  fleets  secure  her  the  do- 
minion of  the  sea. 

430.  Athens  visited  by  a  pestilence,  which  sweeps  off  large 
numbers  of  her  population. 

425.  The  Athenians  gain  great  advantages  over  the  Spartans 
at  Sphacteria,  and  by  occupying  Cythera ;  but  they  suffer  a 
severe  defeat  in  Boeotia,  and  the  Spartan  general,  Brasidas,  leads 
an  expedition  to  the  Thracian  coasts,  and  conquers  many  of  the 
most  valuable  Athenian  possessions  in  those  regions. 

421.  Nominal  truce  for  thirty  years  between  Athens  and 
Sparta,  but  hostilities  continue  on  the  Thracian  coast  and  in 
other  quarters.  '^ 

415.  The  Athenians  send  an  expedition  to  conquer  Sicily. 

"  *  Paeans  of  the  Athenian  Navy." 


86  DEFEAT  OF  THE  ATHENIANS 


CHAPTER  n. 

DEFEAT  OF  THE  ATHENIANS  AT  SYRACUSE,  B.C.  413. 

"  The  Romans  knew  not,  and  could  not  know,  how  deeply  the  greatness  of 
their  own  posterity,  and  the  fate  of  the  whole  Western  world,  were  involved 
in  the  destruction  of  the  fleet  of  Athens  in  the  harbor  of  Syracuse.  Had 
that  great  expedition  proved  victorious,  the  energies  of  Greece  during  the 
next  eventful  century  would  have  found  their  field  in  the  West  no  less  than 
in  the  East ;  Greece,  and  not  Rome,  might  have  conquered  Carthage ;  Greek 
instead  of  Latin  might  have  been  at  this  day  the  principal  element  of  the 
language  of  Spain,  of  France,  and  of  Italy ;  and  the  laws  of  Athens,  rather 
than  of  Rome,  might  be  the  foundation  of  the  law  of  the  civilized  world." — 
Arnold. 

"The  great  expedition  to  Sicily,  one  of  the  most  decisive  events  in  the 
history  of  the  world." — Niebuhr. 

Few  cities  have  undergone  more  memorable  sieges  during  an- 
cient and  mediaeval  times  than  has  the  city  of  Syracuse.  Athe- 
nian, Carthaginian,  Roman,  Vandal,  Byzantine,  Saracen,  and  Nor- 
man have  in  turns  beleaguered  her  walls ;  and  the  resistance 
which  she  successfully  opposed  to  some  of  her  assailants  was 
of  the  deepest  importance,  not  only  to  the  fortunes  of  the  gen- 
erations then  in  being,  but  to  all  the  subsequent  current  of  hu- 
man events.  To  adopt  the  eloquent  expressions  of  Arnold  re- 
specting the  check  which  she  gave  to  the  Carthaginian  arms, 
"Syracuse  was  a  breakwater  which  God's  providence  raised 
up  to  protect  the  yet  immature  strength  of  Rome."  And  her 
triumphant  repulse  of  the  great  Athenian  expedition  against 
her  was  of  even  more  widespread  and  enduring  importance.  It 
forms  a  decisive  epoch  in  the  strife  for  universal  empire,  in 
which  all  the  great  states  of  antiquity  successively  engaged  and 
failed. 

The  present  city  of  Syracuse  is  a  place  of  little  or  no  military 
strength,  as  the  fire  of  artillery  from  the  neighboring  heights 
would  almost  completely  command  it.  But  in  ancient  warfare 
its  position,  and  the  care  bestowed  on  its  walls,  rendered  it  for- 
midably strong  against  the  means  of  offence  which  then  were 
employed  by  besieging  armies. 


AT  SYRACUSE,  B.a  413.  37 

The  ancient  city,  in  the  time  of  the  Peloponnesian  war,  was 
chiefly  built  on  the  knob  of  land  which  projects  into  the  sea  on 
the  eastern  coast  of  Sicily,  between  two  bays ;  one  of  which,  to 
the  north,  was  called  the  Bay  of  Thapsus,  while  the  southern 
one  formed  the  great  harbor  of  the  city  of  Syracuse  itself.  A 
small  island,  or  peninsula  (for  such  it  soon  was  rendered),  lies 
at  the  southeastern  extremity  of  this  knob  of  land,  stretching 
almost  entirely  across  the  mouth  of  the  great  harbor,  and  ren- 
dering it  nearly  land-locked.  This  island  comprised  the  origi- 
nal settlement *of  the  first  Greek  colonists  from  Corinth,  who 
founded  Syracuse  two  thousand  five  hundred  years  ago ;  and 
the  modern  city  has  shrunk  again  into  these  primary  limits. 
But,  in  the  fifth  century  before  our  era,  the  growing  wealth  and 
population  of  the  Syracusans  had  led  them  to  occupy  and  in- 
clude within  their  city  walls  portion  after  portion  of  the  main- 
land lying  next  to  the  little  isle ;  so  that  at  the  time  of  the  Athe- 
nian expedition  the  seaward  part  of  the  land  between  the  two 
bays  already  spoken  of  was  built  over,  and  fortified  from  bay 
to  bay,  constituting  the  larger  part  of  Syracuse. 

The  landward  wall,  therefore,  of  the  city  traversed  this  knob 
of  land,  which  continues  to  slope  upwards  from  the  sea,  and 
which  to  the  west  of  the  old  fortifications  (that  is,  towards  the 
interior  of  Sicily)  rises  rapidly  for  a  mile  or  two,  but  diminishes 
in  width,  and  finally  terminates  in  a  long,  narrow  ridge,  between 
which  and  Mount  Hybla  a  succession  of  chasms  and  uneven  low 
ground  extend.  On  each  flank  of  this  ridge  the  descent  is  steep 
and  precipitous  from  its  summits  to  the  strips  of  level  land  that 
lie  immediately  below  it,  both  to  the  southwest  and  northwest. 

The  usual  mode  of  assailing  fortified  towns  in  the  time  of 
the  Peloponnesian  war  was  to  build  a  double  wall  round  them, 
sufficiently  strong  to  check  any  sally  of  the  garrison  from 
within,  or  any  attack  of  a  relieving  force  from  without.  The 
interval  within  the  two  walls  of  the  circumvallation  was  roofed 
over,  and  formed  barracks,  in  which  the  besiegers  posted  them- 
selves, and  awaited  the  effects  of  want  or  treachery  among  the 
besieged  in  producing  a  surrender.  And  in  every  Greek  city 
of  those  days,  as  in  every  Italian  republic  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
the  rage  of  domestic  sedition  between  aristocrats  and  demo- 
crats ran  high.  Rancorous  refugees  swarmed  in  the  camp  of 
every  invading  enemy ;  and  every  blockaded  city  was  sure  to 
contain  within  its  walls  a  body  of  intriguing  malcontents,  who 
were  eager  to  purchase  a  party  triumph  at  the  expense  of  a 
national  disaster.     Famine  and  faction  were  the  allies  on  whom 


38  DEFEAT  OF  THE  ATHENIANS 

besiegers  relied.  The  generals  of  that  time  trusted  to  the  oper- 
ation of  these  sure  confederates  as  soon  as  they  could  establish 
a  complete  blockade.  They  rarely  ventured  on  the  attempt  to 
storm  any  fortified  post.  For  the  military  engines  of  antiquity 
were  feeble  in  breaching  masonry,  before  the  improvements 
which  the  first  Dionysius  effected  in  the  mechanics  of  destruc- 
tion; and  the  lives  of  spearmen,  the  boldest  and  most  highly 
trained  would,  of  course,  have  been  idly  spent  in  charges  against 
unshattered  walls. 

A  city  built  close  to  the  sea,  like  Syracuse,  was  impregnable, 
save  by  the  combined  operations  of  a  superior  hostile  fleet  and  a 
superior  hostile  army.  And  Syracuse,  from  her  size,  her  popu- 
lation, and  her  military  and  naval  resources,  not  unnaturally 
thought  herself  secure  from  finding  in  another  Greek  city  a  foe 
capable  of  sending  a  suflScient  armament  to  menace  her  with 
capture  and  subjection.  But  in  the  spring  of  414  b.c.  the  Athe- 
nian navy  was  mistress  of  her  harbor  and  the  adjacent  seas ;  an 
Athenian  army  had  defeated  her  troops,  and  cooped  them  with- 
in the  town  ;  and  from  bay  to  bay  a  blockading-wall  was  being 
rapidly  carried  across  the  strips  of  level  gi'ound  and  the  high 
ridge  outside  the  city  (then  termed  Epipolse),  which,  if  com- 
pleted, would  have  cut  the  Syracusans  off  from  all  succor  from 
the  interior  of  Sicily,  and  have  left  them  at  the  mercy  of  the 
Athenian  generals.  The  besiegers'  works  were,  indeed,  un- 
finished; but  every  day  the  unfortified  interval  in  their  lines 
grew  narrower,  and  with  it  diminished  all  apparent  hope  of 
safety  for  the  beleaguered  town. 

Athens  was  now  staking  the  flower  of  her  forces,  and  the  ac- 
cumulated fruits  of  seventy  years  of  glory,  on  one  bold  throw 
for  the  dominion  of  the  Western  world.  As  Napoleon  from 
Mount  Coeur  de  Lion  pointed  to  St.  Jean  d'Acre,  and  told  his 
staff  that  the  capture  of  that  town  would  decide  his  destiny  and 
would  change  the  face  of  the  world ;  so  the  Athenian  officers, 
from  the  heights  of  Epipolse,  must  have  looked  on  Syracuse, 
and  felt  that  with  its  fall  all  the  known  powers  of  the  earth 
would  fall  beneath  them.  They  must  have  felt  that  Athens,  if 
repulsed  there,  must  pause  forever  in  her  career  of  conquest, 
and  sink  from  an  imperial  republic  into  a  ruined  and  subservi- 
ent community. 

At  Marathon,  the  first  in  date  of  the  great  battles  of  the 
world,  we  beheld  Athens  struggling  for  self-preservation 
against  the  invading  armies  of  the  East.  At  Syracuse  she  ap- 
pears as  the  ambitious  and  oppressive  invader  of  others.     In 


AT  SYRACUSE,  b.c.  1^13.  39 

her,  as  in  other  republics  of  old  and  of  modern  times,  the  same 
energy  that  had  inspired  the  most  heroic  efforts  in  defence  of 
the  national  independence  soon  learned  to  employ  itself  in 
daring  and  unscrupulous  schemes  of  self-aggrandizement  at  the 
expense  of  neighboring  nations.  In  the  interval  between  the 
Persian  and  Peloponnesian  wars  she  had  rapidly  grown  into  a 
conquering  and  dominant  state,  the  chief  of  a  thousand  tribu- 
tary cities,  and  the  mistress  of  the  largest  and  best-manned 
navy  that  the  Mediterranean  had  yet  beheld.  The  occupation 
of  her  territory  by  Xerxes  and  Mardonius,  in  the  second  Per- 
sian war,  had  forced  her  whole  population  to  become  mariners ; 
and  the  glorious  results  of  that  struggle  confirmed  them  in 
their  zeal  for  their  country's  service  at  sea.  The  voluntary 
suffrage  of  the  Greek  cities  of  the  coasts  and  islands  of  the 
^gean  first  placed  Athens  at  the  head  of  the  confederation 
formed  for  the  further  prosecution  of  the  war  against  Persia. 
But  this  titular  ascendency  was  soon  converted  by  her  into 
practical  and  arbitrary  dominion.  She  protected  them  from 
piracy  and  the  Persian  power,  which  soon  fell  into  decrepitude 
and  decay ;  but  she  exacted  in  return  implicit  obedience  to  her- 
self. She  claimed  and  enforced  a  prerogative  of  taxing  them 
at  her  discretion ;  and  proudly  refused  to  be  accountable  for 
her  mode  of  expending  their  supplies.  Remonstrance  against 
her  assessments  was  treated  as  factious  disloyalty ;  and  refusal 
to  pay  was  promptly  punished  as  revolt.  Permitting  and  en- 
couraging her  subject  allies  to  furnish  all  their  contingents  in 
money,  instead  of  part  consisting  of  ships  and  men,  the  sov- 
ereign republic  gained  the  double  object  of  training  her  own 
citizens  by  constant  and  well-paid  service  in  her  fleets,  and  of 
seeing  her  confederates  lose  their  skill  and  discipline  by  in- 
action, and  become  more  and  more  passive  and  powerless  under 
her  yoke.  Their  towns  were  generally  dismantled,  while  the 
imperial  city  herself  was  fortified  with  the  greatest  care  and 
sumptuousness ;  the  accumulated  revenues  from  her  tributaries 
serving  to  strengthen  and  adorn  to  the  utmost  her  havens,  her 
docks,  her  arsenals,  her  theatres,  and  her  shrines,  and  to  array 
her  in  that  plenitude  of  architectural  magnificence  the  ruins  of 
which  still  attest  the  intellectual  grandeur  of  the  age  and  people 
which  produced  a  Pericles  to  plan  and  a  Phidias  to  execute. 

All  republics  that  acquire  supremacy  over  other  nations  rule 
them  selfishly  and  oppressively.  There  is  no  exception  to  this 
in  either  ancient  or  modern  times.  Carthage,  Rome,  Venice, 
Genoa,  Florence,  Pisa,  Holland,  and  Republican  France,  all  tyran- 


40  DEFEAT  OF  THE  ATHENIANS 

nized  over  every  province  and  subject  state  where  they  gained 
authority.  But  none  of  them  openly  avowed  their  system  of 
doing  so  upon  principle  with  the  candor  which  the  Athenian 
republicans  displayed  when  any  remonstrance  was  made  against 
the  severe  exactions  which  they  imposed  upon  their  vassal 
allies.  They  avowed  that  their  empire  was  a  tyranny,  and 
frankly  stated  that  they  solely  trusted  to  force  and  terror  to  up- 
hold it.  They  appealed  to  what  they  called  "  the  eternal  law 
of  nature,  that  the  weak  should  be  coerced  by  the  strong."* 
Sometimes  they  stated,  and  not  without  some  truth,  that  the 
unjust  hatred  of  Sparta  against  themselves  forced  them  to  be 
unjust  to  others  in  self-defence.  To  be  safe  they  must  be 
powerful ;  and  to  be  powerful  they  must  plunder  and  coerce 
their  neighbors.  They  never  dreamed  of  communicating  any 
franchise,  or  share  in  office,  to  their  dependants ;  but  jealously 
monopolized  every  post  of  command,  and  all  political  and  judi- 
cial power ;  exposing  themselves  to  every  risk  with  unflinching 
gallantry  ;  enduring  cheerfully  the  laborious  training  and  severe 
discipline  which  their  sea-service  required  ;  venturing  readily 
on  every  ambitious  scheme;  and  never  suffering  difficulty  or 
disaster  to  shake  their  tenacity  of  purpose.  Their  hope  was  to 
acquire  unbounded  empire  for  their  country,  and  the  means  of 
maintaining  each  of  the  thirty  thousand  citizens  who  made  up 
the  sovereign  republic,  in  exclusive  devotion  to  military  occupa- 
tions, and  to  those  brilliant  sciences  and  arts  in  which  Athens 
already  had  reached  the  meridian  of  intellectual  splendor. 

Her  great  political  dramatist  speaks  of  the  Athenian  empire 
as  comprehending  a  thousand  states.  The  language  of  the 
stage  must  not  be  taken  too  literally  ;  but  the  number  of  the 
dependencies  of  Athens,  at  the  time  when  the  Peloponnesian 
confederacy  attacked  her,  was  undoubtedly  very  great.  With 
a  few  trifling  exceptions,  all  the  islands  of  the  ^gean,  and  all 
the  Greek  cities  which  in  that  age  fringed  the  coasts  of  Asia 
Minor,  the  Hellespont,  and  Thrace,  paid  tribute  to  Athens,  and 
implicitly  obeyed  her  orders.  The  ^gean  Sea  was  an  Attic 
lake.  Westward  of  Greece,  her  influence,  though  strong,  was 
not  equally  predominant.  She  had  colonies  and  allies  among 
the  wealthy  and  populous  Greek  settlements  in  Sicily  and  South 
Italy,  but  she  had  no  organized  system  of  confederates  in  those 
regions  ;  and  her  galleys  brought  her  no  tribute  from  the  west- 
ern seas.     The  extension  of  her  empire  over  Sicily  was  the  fa- 

*  'Act  KaOiOTuiTOQ  Tov  ^ocu)  vno  SvvaTujTipoi  KaTtipytaOai. — Thuc,  i.,  7V. 


AT  SYRACUSE,  s.c.  4IS.  41 

vorite  project  of  her  ambitious  orators  and  generals.  While 
her  great  statesman  Pericles  lived,  his  commanding  genius  kept 
his  countrymen  under  control,  and  forbade  them  to  risk  the 
fortunes  of  Athens  in  distant  enterprises  while  they  had  un- 
subdued and  powerful  enemies  at  their  doors.  He  taught 
Athens  this  maxim,  but  he  also  taught  her  to  know  and  to  use 
her  own  strength ;  and  when  Pericles  had  departed,  the  bold 
spirit  which  he  had  fostered  overleaped  the  salutary  limits 
which  he  had  prescribed.  When  her  bitter  enemies,  the  Co- 
rinthians, succeeded,  in  431  e.g.,  in  inducing  Sparta  to  attack 
her,  and  a  confederacy  was  formed  of  five  sixths  of  the  Conti- 
nental Greeks,  all  animated  by  anxious  jealousy  and  bitter 
hatred  of  Athens ;  when  armies  far  superior  in  numbers  and 
equipment  to  those  which  had  marched  against  the  Persians 
were  poured  into  the  Athenian  territory,  and  laid  it  waste  to 
the  city  walls ;  the  general  opinion  was  that  Athens  would,  in 
two  or  three  years  at  the  farthest,  be  reduced  to  submit  to  the 
requisitions  of  her  invaders.  But  her  strong  fortifications,  by 
which  she  was  girt  and  linked  to  her  principal  haven,  gave  her, 
in  those  ages,  almost  all  the  advantages  of  an  insular  position. 
Pericles  had  made  her  trust  to  her  empire  of  the  seas.  Every 
Athenian  in  those  days  was  a  practised  seaman.  A  state  in- 
deed whose  members,  of  an  age  fit  for  service,  at  no  time  ex- 
ceeded thirty  thousand,  and  whose  territorial  extent  did  not 
equal  half  Sussex,  could  only  have  acquired  such  a  naval  do- 
minion as  Athens  once  held,  by  devoting  and  zealously  train- 
ing all  its  sons  to  service  in  its  fleets.  In  order  to  man  the 
numerous  galleys  which  she  sent  out,  she  necessarily  employed 
also  large  numbers  of  hired  mariners  and  slaves  at  the  oar  ;  but 
the  staple  of  her  crews  was  Athenian,  and  all  posts  of  command 
were  held  by  native  citizens.  It  was  by  reminding  them 
of  this,  of  their  long  practice  in  seamanship,  and  the  certain 
superiority  which  their  discipline  gave  them  over  the  enemy's 
marine,  that  their  great  minister  mainly  encouraged  them  to 
resist  the  combined  power  of  Lacedsemon  and  her  allies.  He 
taught  them  that  Athens  might  thus  reap  the  fruit  of  her  zeal- 
ous devotion  to  maritime  affairs  ever  since  the  invasion  of  the 
Medes ;  "  she  had  not,  indeed,  perfected  herself;  but  the  reward 
of  her  superior  training  was  the  rule  of  the  sea — a  mighty  do- 
minion, for  it  gave  her  the  rule  of  much  fair  land  beyond  its 
waves,  safe  from  the  idle  ravages  with  which  the  Lacedse- 
monians  might  li^r^ss  Attica,  but  never  could  subdue  Athens,"  * 

♦  Thuc,  lib.  i.,  sec.  144. 


42  DEFEAT  OF  THE  ATHENIANS 

Athens  accepted  the  war  with  which  her  enemies  threatened 
her  rather  than  descend  from  her  pride  of  place.  And  though 
the  awful  visitation  of  the  plague  came  upon  her,  and  swept 
away  more  of  her  citizens  than  the  Dorian  spear  laid  low,  she 
held  her  own  gallantly  against  her  foes.  If  the  Peloponnesian 
armies  in  irresistible  strength  wasted  every  spring  her  corn- 
lands,  her  vineyards,  and  her  olive-groves  with  fire  and  sword, 
she  retaliated  on  their  coasts  with  her  fleets ;  which,  if  resisted, 
were  only  resisted  to  display  the  pre-eminent  skill  and  bravery 
of  her  seamen.  Some  of  her  subject-allies  revolted,  but  the  re- 
volts were  in  general  sternly  and*promptly  quelled.  The  genius 
of  one  enemy  had,  indeed,  inflicted  blows  on  her  power  in  Thrace 
which  she  was  unable  to  remedy;  but  he  fell  in  battle  in  the 
tenth  year  of  the  war ;  and  with  the  loss  of  Brasidas  the  Lace- 
daemonians seemed  to  have  lost  all  energy  and  judgment.  Both 
sides  at  length  grew  weary  of  the  war ;  and  in  421  b.c.  a  truce 
of  fifty  years  was  concluded,  which,  though  ill  kept,  and  though 
many  of  the  confederates  of  Sparta  refused  to  recognize  it,  and 
hostilities  still  continued  in  many  parts  of  Greece,  protected  the 
Athenian  territory  from  the  ravages  of  enemies,  and  enabled 
Athens  to  accumulate  large  sums  out  of  the  proceeds  of  her  an- 
nual revenues.  So  also,  as  a  few  years  passed  by,  the  havoc 
which  the  pestilence  and  the  sword  had  made  in  her  population 
was  repaired ;  and  in  415  b.c.  Athens  was  full  of  bold  and  rest- 
less spirits,  who  longed  for  some  field  of  distant  enterprise, 
wherein  they  might  signalize  themselves  and  aggrandize  the 
state,  and  who  looked  on  the  alarm  of  Spartan  hostility  as  a 
mere  old  woman's  tale.  When  Sparta  had  wasted  their  terri- 
tory she  had  done  her  worst ;  and  the  fact  of  its  always  being 
in  her  power  to  do  so  seemed  a  strong  reason  for  seeking  to 
increase  the  transmarine  dominion  of  Athens. 

The  West  was  now  the  quarter  towards  which  the  thoughts 
of  every  aspiring  Athenian  were  directed.  From  the  very  be- 
ginning of  the  war  Athens  had  kept  up  an  interest  in  Sicily ; 
and  her  squadrons  had  from  time  to  time  appeared  on  its  coasts 
and  taken  part  in  the  dissensions  in  which  the  Sicilian  Greeks 
were  universally  engaged  one  against  the  other.  There  were 
plausible  grounds  for  a  direct  quarrel  and  an  open  attack  by  the 
^Athenians  upon  Syracuse. 

With  the  capture  of  Syracuse  all  Sicily,  it  was  hoped,  would 
be  secured.  Carthage  and  Italy  were  next  to  be  assailed.  With 
large  levies  of  Iberian  mercenaries  she  then  meant  to  overwhelm 
her  Peloponnesian  enemies.    The  Persian  monarchy  lay  in  hope- 


AT  srttACUSB,  B.C.  j^l3.  43 

less  imbecility,  inviting  Greek  invasion ;  nor  did  the  known 
world  contain  the  power  that  seemed  capable  of  checking  the 
growing  might  of  Athens,  if  Syracuse  once  could  be  hers. 

The  national  historian  of  Rome  has  left  us,  as  an  episode  of 
his  great  work,  a  disquisition  on  the  probable  effects  that  would 
have  followed  if  Alexander  the  Great  had  invaded  Italy.  Pos- 
terity has  generally  regarded  that  disquisition  as  proving  Livy's 
patriotism  more  strongly  than  his  impartiality  or  acuteness.  Yet, 
right  or  wrong,  the  speculations  of  the  Roman  writer  were  direct- 
ed to  the  consideration  of  a  very  remote  possibility.  To  what- 
ever age  Alexander's  life  might  have  been  prolonged,  the  East 
would  have  furnished  full  occupation  for  his  martial  ambition, 
as  well  as  for  those  schemes  of  commercial  grandeur  and  impe- 
rial amalgamation  of  nations  in  which  the  truly  great  qualities 
of  his  mind  loved  to  display  themselves.  With  his  death  the 
dismemberment  of  his  empire  among  his  generals  was  certain, 
even  as  the  dismemberment  of  Napoleon's  empire  among  his 
marshals  would  certainly  have  ensued  if  he  had  been  cut  off  in 
the  zenith  of  his  power.  Rome,  also,  was  far  weaker  when  the 
Athenians  were  in  Sicily  than  she  was  a  century  afterwards,  in 
Alexander's  time.  There  can  be  little  doubt  but  that  Rome 
would  have  been  blotted  out  from  the  independent  powers  of 
the  West  had  she  been  attacked  at  the  end  of  the  fifth  century 
B.C.  by  an  Athenian  army,  largely  aided  by  Spanish  mercenaries, 
and  flushed  with  triumphs  over  Sicily  and  Africa,  instead  of  the 
collision  between  her  and  Greece  having  been  deferred  until  the 
latter  had  sunk  into  decrepitude  and  the  Roman  Mars  had  grown 
into  full  vigor. 

The  armament  which  the  Athenians  equipped  against  Syra- 
cuse was  in  every  way  worthy  of  the  state  which  formed  such 
projects  of  universal  empire ;  and  it  has  been  truly  termed  "  the 
noblest  that  ever  yet  had  been  sent  forth  by  a  free  and  civilized 
commonwealth."  *  The  fleet  consisted  of  one  hundred  and 
thirty-four  war-galleys,  with  a  multitude  of  store-ships.  A  pow- 
erful force  of  the  best  heavy-armed  infantry  that  Athens  and 
her  allies  could  furnish  was  sent  on  board,  together  with  a  smaller 
number  of  slingers  and  bowmen.  The  quality  of  the  forces  was 
even  more  remarkable  than  the  number.  The  zeal  of  individu- 
als vied  with  that  of  the  republic  in  giving  every  galley  the  best 
possible  crew  and  every  troop  the  most  perfect  accoutrements. 
And  with  private  as  well  as  public  wealth  eagerly  lavished  on 

*  Arnold's  "  History  of  Rome." 


44  DEFEAT  OF  THE  ATHENIANS 

all  that  could  give  splendor  as  well  as  efficiency  to  the  expedi- 
tion, the  fated  fleet  began  its  voyage  for  the  Sicilian  shores  in 
the  summer  of  415  b.c. 

The  Syracusans  themselves,  at  the  time  of  the  Peloponnesian 
war,  were  a  bold  and  turbulent  democracy,  tyrannizing  over  the 
weaker  Greek  cities  in  Sicily,  and  trying  to  gain  in  that  island 
the  same  arbitrary  supremacy  which  Athens  maintained  along 
the  eastern  coast  of  the  Mediterranean.  In  numbers  and  in  spirit 
they  were  fully  equal  to  the  Athenians,  but  far  inferior  to  them 
in  military  and  naval  discipline.  When  the  probability  of  an 
Athenian  invasion  was  first  publicly  discussed  at  Syracuse,  and 
efforts  were  made  by  some  of  the  wiser  citizens  to  improve  the 
state  of  the  national  defences  and  prepare  for  the  impending  dan- 
ger, the  rumors  of  coming  war  and  the  proposals  for  prepara- 
tion were  received  by  the  mass  of  the  Syracusans  with  scornful 
incredulity.  The  speech  of  one  of  their  popular  orators  is  pre- 
served to  us  in  Thucydides,*  and  many  of  its  topics  might,  by 
a  slight  alteration  of  names  and  details,  serve  admirably  for  the 
party  among  ourselves  at  present  which  opposes  the  augmenta- 
tion of  our  forces,  and  derides  the  idea  of  our  being  in  any  peril 
from  the  sudden  attack  of  a  French  expedition.  The  Syracusan 
orator  told  his  countrymen  to  dismiss  with  scorn  the  visionary 
terrors  which  a  set  of  designing  men  among  themselves  strove 
to  excite,  in  order  to  get  power  and  influence  thrown  into  their 
own  hands.  He  told  them  that  Athens  knew  her  own  interest 
too  well  to  think  of  wantonly  provoking  their  hostility :  "  Even 
if  the  enemies  were  to  come^''  said  he,  "  so  distant  from  their 
resources,  and  opposed  to  such  a  power  as  ours,  their  destruction 
would  he  easy  and  inevitable.  Their  ships  will  have  enough  to 
do  to  get  to  our  island  at  all,  and  to  carry  such  stores  of  all  sorts 
as  will  he  needed.  They  cannot  therefore  carry,  besides,  an  army 
large  enough  to  cope  with  such  a  population  as  ours.  They  will 
have  no  fortified  place  from  which  to  commence  their  operations  ; 
hut  must  rest  them  on  no  better  base  than  a  set  of  wretched  tents, 
and  such  means  as  the  necessities  of  the  moment  will  allow  them.. 
But,  in  truth,  I  do  not  believe  that  they  would  even  be  able  to  effect 
a  disembarkation.  Let  us,  therefore,  set  at  nought  these  reports  as 
altogether  of  home  manufacture  ;  and  be  sure  that,  if  any  enemy 
does  come,  the  state  will  know  how  to  defend  itself  in  a  manner 
worthy  of  the  national  honor.''"' 

*  Lib.  vi.,  sec.  36  et  seq.,  Arnold's  edition.  I  have  almost  literally  tran- 
scribed some  of  the  marginal  epitomes  of  the  original  speech. 


AT  SYRACUSE,  ac.  413.  45 

Such  assertions  pleased  the  Syracusan  assembly ;  and  their 
counterparts  find  favor  now  among  some  portions  of  the  Eng- 
lish public.  But  the  invaders  of  Syracuse  came ;  made  good 
their  landing  in  Sicily ;  and,  if  they  had  promptly  attacked  the 
city  itself,  instead  of  wasting  nearly  a  year  in  desultory  opera- 
tions in  other  parts  of  the  island,  the  Syracusans  must  have  paid 
the  penalty  of  their  self-sufficient  carelessness  in  submission  to 
the  Athenian  yoke.  But  of  the  three  generals  who  led  the 
Athenian  expedition,  two  only  were  men  of  ability,  and  one  was 
most  weak  and  incompetent.  Fortunately  for  Syracuse,  Alcibi- 
ades,  the  most  skilful  of  the  three,  was  soon  deposed  from  his 
command  by  a  factious  and  fanatic  vote  of  his  fellow-country- 
men, and  the  other  competent  one,  Lamachus,  fell  early  in  a  skir- 
mish ;  while,  more  fortunately  still  for  her,  the  feeble  and  vac- 
illating Nicias  remained  unrecalled  and  unhurt,  to  assume  the 
undivided  leadership  of  the  Athenian  army  and  fleet,  and  to  mar, 
hy  alternate  over-caution  and  over-carelessness,  every  chance  of 
success  which  the  early  part  of  the  operations  offered.  Still, 
even  under  him,  the  Athenians  nearly  won  the  town.  They  de- 
feated the  raw  levies  of  the  Syracusans,  cooped  them  within  the 
walls,  and,  as  before  mentioned,  almost  effected  a  continuous 
fortification  from  bay  to  bay  over  Epipola?,  the  completion  of 
which  would  certainly  have  been  followed  by  capitulation. 

Alcibiades,  the  most  complete  example  of  genius  without  prin- 
ciple that  history  produces,  the  Bolingbroke  of  antiquity,  but 
with  high  military  talents  superadded  to  diplomatic  and  orator- 
ical powers,  on  being  summoned  home  from  his  command  in 
Sicily  to  take  his  trial  before  the  Athenian  tribunal,  had  escaped 
to  Sparta ;  and  he  exerted  himself  there  with  all  the  selfish  ran- 
cor of  a  renegade  to  renew  the  war  with  Athens,  and  to  send 
instant  assistance  to  Syracuse. 

When  we  read  his  words  in  the  pages  of  Thucydides  (who 
was  himself  an  exile  from  Athens  at  this  period,  and  may  prob- 
ably have  been  at  Sparta,  and  heard  Alcibiades  speak),  we  are 
at  loss  whether  most  to  admire  or  abhor  his  subtle  and  traitor- 
ous counsels.  After  an  artful  exordium,  in  which  he  tried  to 
disarm  the  suspicions  which  he  felt  must  be  entertained  of  him, 
and  to  point  out  to  the  Spartans  how  completely  his  interests 
and  theirs  were  identified,  through  hatred  of  the  Athenian  de- 
mocracy, he  thus  proceeded :  "  Hear  me,  at  any  rate,  on  the 
matters  which  require  your  grave  attention,  and  which  I,  from 
the  personal  knowledge  that  I  have  of  them,  can  and  ought  to 
bring  before  you.     We  Athenians  sailed  to  Sicily  with  the  de- 


46  DEFEAT  OF  THE  ATHENIANS 

sign  of  subduing,  first  the  Greek  cities  there,  and  next  those  in 
Italy.  Then  we  intended  to  make  an  attempt  on  the  dominions 
of  Carthage  and  on  Carthage  itself.*  If  all  these  projects  suc- 
ceeded (nor  did  we  limit  ourselves  to  them  in  these  quarters), 
we  intended  to  increase  our  fleet  with  the  inexhaustible  supplies 
of  ship  timber  which  Italy  affords,  to  put  in  requisition  the  whole 
military  force  of  the  conquered  Greek  states,  and  also  to  hire 
large  armies  of  the  barbarians — of  the  Iberians,f  and  others  in 
those  regions,  who  are  allowed  to  make  the  best  possible  sol- 
diers. Then,  when  we  had  done  all  this,  we  intended  to  assail 
Peloponnesus  with  our  collected  force.  Our  fleets  would  block- 
ade you  by  sea,  and  desolate  your  coasts ;  our  armies  would  be 
landed  at  different  points,  and  assail  your  cities.  Some  of  these 
we  expected  to  storm,  \  and  others  we  meant  to  take  by  surround- 
ing them  with  fortified  lines.  We  thought  that  it  would  thus 
be  an  easy  matter  thoroughly  to  war  you  down ;  and  then  we 
should  become  the  masters  of  the  whole  Greek  race.  As  for 
expense,  we  reckoned  that  each  conquered  state  would  give  us 
supplies  of  money  and  provisions  sufficient  to  pay  for  its  own 
conquest,  and  furnish  the  means  for  the  conquest  of  its  neigh- 
bors. 

"  Such  are  the  designs  of  the  present  Athenian  expedition  to 
Sicily,  and  you  have  heard  them  from  the  lips  of  the  man  who, 
of  all  men  living,  is  most  accurately  acquainted  with  them.  The 
other  Athenian  generals  who  remain  with  the  expedition  will 
endeavor  to  carry  out  these  plans.  And  be  sure  that,  without 
your  speedy  interference,  they  will  all  be  accomplished.  The 
Sicilian  Greeks  are  deficient  in  military  training;  but  still,  if 
they  could  be  at  once  brought  to  combine  in  an  organized  resist- 
ance to  Athens,  they  might  even  now  be  saved.  But  as  for  the 
Syracusans  resisting  Athens  by  themselves,  they  have  already, 

*  Arnold,  in  his  notes  on  this  passage,  well  reminds  the  reader  that  Agath- 
ocles,  with  a  Greek  force  far  inferior  to  that  of  the  Athenians  at  this  period, 
did,  a  century  afterwards,  very  nearly  conquer  Carthage. 

f  It  will  be  remembered  that  Spanish  infantry  were  the  staple  of  the  Car- 
thaginian armies.  Doubtless  Alcibiades  and  other  leading  Athenians  had 
made  themselves  acquainted  with  the  Carthaginian  system  of  carrying  on 
war,  and  meant  to  adopt  it.  With  the  marvellous  powers  which  Alcibiades 
possessed  of  ingratiating  himself  with  men  of  every  class  and  every  nation, 
and  his  high  military  genius,  he  would  have  been  as  formidable  a  chief  of  an 
army  of  condottieri  as  Hannibal  afterwards  was. 

^  Alcibiades  here  alluded  to  Sparta  itself,  which  was  unfortified.  His  Spar- 
tan hearers  must  have  glanced  round  them,  at  these  words,  with  mixed  alarm 
and  indignation. 


AT  SYRACUSE,  b.c.  4IS.  47 

with  the  whole  strength  of  their  population,  fought  a  battle  and 
been  beaten ;  they  cannot  face  the  Athenians  at  sea ;  and  it  is 
quite  impossible  for  them  to  hold  out  against  the  force  of  their 
invaders.  And  if  this  city  falls  into  the  hands  of  the  Athenians, 
all  Sicily  is  theirs,  and  presently  Italy  also ;  and  the  danger 
which  I  warned  you  of  from  that  quarter  will  soon  fall  upon 
yourselves.  You  must,  therefore,  in  Sicily  fight  for  the  safety 
of  Peloponnesus.  Send  some  galleys  thither  instantly.  Put 
men  on  board  who  can  work  their  own  way  over,  and  who,  as 
soon  as  they  land,  can  do  duty  as  regular  troops.  But,  above 
ail,  let  one  of  yourselves,  let  a  man  of  Sparta,  go  over  to  take 
the  chief  command,  to  bring  into  order  and  effective  discipline 
the  forces  that  are  in  Syracuse,  and  urge  those  who  at  present 
hang  back  to  come  forward  and  aid  the  Syracusans.  The  pres- 
ence of  a  Spartan  general  at  this  crisis  will  do  more  to  save  the 
city  than  a  whole  army."*  The  renegade  then  proceeded  to 
urge  on  them  the  necessity  of  encouraging  their  friends  in  Sic- 
ily by  showing  that  they  themselves  were  earnest  in  hostility  to 
Athens.  He  exhorted  them  not  only  to  march  their  armies  into 
Attica  again,  but  to  take  up  a  permanent  fortified  position  in  the 
country ;  and  he  gave  them  in  detail  information  of  all  that  the 
Athenians  most  dreaded,  and  how  his  country  might  receive  the 
most  distressing  and  enduring  injury  at  their  hands. 

The  Spartans  resolved  to  act  on  his  advice,  and  appointed 
Gylippus  to  the  Sicilian  command.  Gylippus  was  a  man  who, 
to  the  national  bravery  and  military  skill  of  a  Spartan,  united 
political  sagacity  that  was  worthy  of  his  great  fellow-countryman 
Brasidas  ;  but  his  merits  were  debased  by  mean  and  sordid  vice  ; 
and  his  is  one  of  the  cases  in  which  history  has  been  austerely 
just,  and  where  little  or  no  fame  has  been  accorded  to  the  suc- 
cessful but  venal  soldier.  But  for  the  purpose  for  which  he  was 
required  in  Sicily,  an  abler  man  could  not  have  been  found  in 
Lacedsemon.  His  country  gave  him  neither  men  nor  money,  but 
she  gave  him  her  authority ;  and  the  influence  of  her  name  and 
of  his  own  talents  was  speedily  seen  in  the  zeal  with  which  the 
Corinthians  and  other  Peloponnesian  Greeks  began  to  equip  a 
squadron  to  act  under  him  for  the  rescue  of  Sicily.  As  soon  as 
four  galleys  were  ready  he  hurried  over  with  them  to  the  south- 
ern coast  of  Italy ;  and  there,  though  he  received  such  evil  tidings 
of  the  state  of  Syracuse  that  he  abandoned  all  hope  of  saving 
that  city,  he  determined  to  remain  on  the  coast,  and  do  what  he 
could  in  preserving  the  Italian  cities  from  the  Athenians. 

*  Thuc,  lib.  vi.,  sec.  90,  91. 


48 


DEFEAT  OF  THE  ATHENIANS 


So  nearly,  indeed,  had  Nicias  completed  his  beleaguering 
lines,  and  so  utterly  desperate  had  the  state  of  Syracuse  seem- 
ingly become,  that  an  assembly  of  the  Syracusans  was  actually 
convened,  and  they  were  discussing  the  terms  on  which  they 


PLAN   OP  SYRACUSE. 

A,  B,  C,  D.  Wall  of  the  Outer  City  of  Syracuse  at  time  of  the  arrival  of  Kicias  in  Sicily. 
E,  F.  Wall  of  Ortygia,  or  the  Inner  City  of  Syracuse,  at  the  same  time. 
O,  H,  I.  Additional  fortification  built  by  the  Syracusans  in  the  winter  of  416-414  B.C. 

K.  Athenian  fortification  at  Syke.  | 

K,  L,  M.  Southern  portion  of  the  Athenian  circumvallation  from  Syke  to  the  Great  Harbor.      ' 
N,  0.  Firit  counter-work  erected  by  the  Syracusans. 
P,  Q.  Second  counter-work  constructed  by  the  Syracusans. 

K,  R.  Intended,  but  unfinished,  circumvallation  of  the  Athenians  from  the  northern  side 
of  Syke  to  the  outer  sea  at  Trog^lus. 
S,  T,  U.  Third  Syracusan  counter-wall. 

V.  Outer  fort  constructed  by  Gylippns. 
V,  W,  T.  Wall  of  junction  between  this  outer  fort  and  the  third  Syracusan  counter-work. 

should  offer  to  capitulate,  when  a  galley  was  seen  dashing  into 
the  Great  Harbor,  and  making  her  way  towards  the  town  with  all 
the  speed  that  her  rowers  could  supply.  From  her  shunning 
the  part  of  the  harbor  where  the  Athenian  fleet  lay,  and  making 
straight  for  the  Syracusan  side,  it  was  clear  that  she  was  a  friend. 
The  enemy's  cruisers,  careless  through  confidence  of  success,  made 
no  attempt  to  cut  her  off ;  she  touched  the  beach,  and  a  Corin- 


AT  SYRACUSE,  s.c.  413.  49 

thian  captain  springing  on  shore  from  her  was  eagerly  conducted 
to  the  assembly  of  the  Syracusan  people,  just  in  time  to  prevent 
the  fatal  vote  being  put  for  a  surrender. 

Providentially  for  Syracuse,  Gongylus,  the  commander  of  the 
galley,  had  been  prevented  by  an  Athenian  squadron  from  fol- 
lowing Gylippus  to  South  Italy,  and  he  had  been  obliged  to  push 
direct  for  Syracuse  from  Greece. 

The  sight  of  actual  succor,  and  the  promise  of  more,  revived 
the  drooping  spirits  of  the  Syracusans.  They  felt  that  they 
were  not  left  desolate  to  perish ;  and  the  tidings  that  a  Spartan 
was  coming  to  command  them  confirmed  their  resolution  to  con- 
tinue their  resistance.  Gylippus  was  already  near  the  city.  He 
had  learned  at  Locri  that  the  first  report  which  had  reached  him 
of  the  state  of  Syracuse  was  exaggerated ;  and  that  there  was  an 
unfinished  space  in  the  besiegers'  lines  through  which  it  was 
barely  possible  to  introduce  reinforcements  into  the  town.  Cross- 
ing the  straits  of  Messina,  which  the  culpable  negligence  of  Nicias 
had  left  unguarded,  Gylippus  landed  on  the  northern  coast  of 
Sicily,  and  there  began  to  collect  from  the  Greek  cities  an  army, 
of  which  the  regular  troops  that  he  brought  from  Peloponnesus 
formed  the  nucleus.  Such  was  the  influence  of  the  name  of 
Sparta,*  and  such  were  his  own  abilities  and  activity,  that  he 
succeeded  in  raising  a  force  of  about  two  thousand  fully  armed 
infantry,  with  a  larger  number  of  irregular  troops.  Nicias,  as 
if  infatuated,  made  no  attempt  to  counteract  his  operations ;  nor, 
when  Gylippus  marched  his  little  army  towards  Syracuse,  did  the 
Athenian  commander  endeavor  to  check  him.  The  Syracusans 
marched  out  to  meet  him ;  and  while  the  Athenians  were  solely 
intent  on  completing  their  fortifications  on  the  southern  side 
towards  the  harbor,  Gylippus  turned  their  position  by  occupy- 
ing the  high  ground  in  the  extreme  rear  of  Epipolse.  He  then 
marched  through  the  unfortified  interval  of  Nicias's  lines  into 
the  besieged  town ;  and,  joining  his  troops  with  the  Syracusan 
forces,  after  some  engagements  with  varying  success,  gained  the 
mastery  over  Nicias,  drove  the  Athenians  from  Epipolae,  and 
hemmed  them  into  a  disadvantageous  position  in  the  low  grounds 
near  the  great  harbor. 

The  attention  of  all  Greece  was  now  fixed  on  Syracuse ;  and 
every  enemy  of  Athens  felt  the  importance  of  the  opportunity 

*  The  effect  of  the  presence  of  a  Spartan  officer  on  the  troops  of  the  other 
Greeks  seems  to  have  been  like  the  effect  of  the  presence  of  an  English  offi- 
cer upon  native  Indian  troops. 


56  MFMAT  OP  THJS  ATHmiAm 

now  offered  of  checking  her  ambition,  and,  perhaps,  of  striking 
a  deadly  blow  at  her  power.  Large  reinforcements  from  Cor- 
inth, Thebes,  and  other  cities  now  reached  the  Syracusans; 
while  the  baffled  and  dispirited  Athenian  general  earnestly  be- 
sought his  countrymen  to  recall  him,  and  represented  the  fur- 
ther prosecution  of  the  siege  as  hopeless. 

But  Athens  had  made  it  a  maxim  never  to  let  difficulty  or 
disaster  drive  her  back  from  any  enterprise  once  undertaken,  so 
long  as  she  possessed  the  means  of  making  an  effort,  however 
desperate,  for  its  accomplishment.  With  indomitable  pertinacity 
she  now  decreed,  instead  of  recalling  her  first  armament  from  be- 
fore Syracuse,  to  send  out  a  second,  though  her  enemies  near  home 
had  now  renewed  open  warfare  against  her,  and  by  occupying  a 
permanent  fortification  in  her  territory,  had  severely  distressed 
her  population,  and  were  pressing  her  with  almost  all  the  hard- 
ships of  an  actual  siege.  She  still  was  mistress  of  the  sea,  and 
she  sent  forth  another  fleet  of  seventy  galleys,  and  another  army, 
which  seemed  to  drain  the  very  last  reserves  of  her  military  pop- 
ulation, to  try  if  Syracuse  could  not  be  won,  and  the  honor  of 
the  Athenian  arms  be  preserved  from  the  stigma  of  retreat. 
Hers  was,  indeed,  a  spirit  that  might  be  broken,  but  never 
would  bend.  At  the  head  of  this  second  expedition  she  wisely 
placed  her  best  general,  Demosthenes,  one  of  the  most  distin- 
guished officers  whom  the  Peloponnesian  war  had  produced, 
and  who,  if  he  had  originally  held  the  Sicilian  command,  would 
soon  have  brought  Syracuse  to  submission. 

The  fame  of  Demosthenes  the  general  has  been  dimmed  by 
the  superior  lustre  of  his  great  countryman,  Demosthenes  the 
orator.  When  the  name  of  Demosthenes  is  mentioned,  it  is  the 
latter  alone  that  is  thought  of.  The  soldier  has  found  no  biog- 
rapher. Yet  out  of  the  long  list  of  the  great  men  of  the  Athe- 
nian republic  there  are  few  that  deserve  to  stand  higher  than 
this  brave,  though  finally  unsuccessful,  leader  of  her  fleets  and 
armies  in  the  first  half  of  the  Peloponnesian  war.  In  his  first 
campaign  in  ^tolia  he  had  shown  some  of  the  rashness  of 
youth,  and  had  received  a  lesson  of  caution,  by  which  he  prof- 
ited throughout  the  rest  of  his  career,  but  without  losing  any 
of  his  natural  energy  in  enterprise  or  in  execution.  He  had 
performed  the  eminent  service  of  rescuing  Naupactus  from  a 
powerful  hostile  armament  in  the  seventh  year  of  the  war;  he 
had  then,  at  the  request  of  the  Acarnanian  republics,  taken  on 
himself  the  office  of  commande||Ui-chief  of  all  their  forces,  and 
at  their  head  he  had  gained  soi]ff  important  advantages  over  the 


AT  SYRACUSE,  b.c.  41$.  51 

enemies  of  Athens  in  Western  Greece.  His  most  celebrated 
exploits  had  been  the  occupation  of  Pylos,  on  the  Messenian 
coast,  the  successful  defence  of  that  place  against  the  fleet  and 
armies  of  Lacedsemon,  and  the  subsequent  capture  of  the  Spar- 
tan forces  on  the  isle  of  Sphacteria;  which  was  the  severest 
blow  dealt  to  Sparta  throughout  the  war,  and  which  had  mainly 
caused  her  to  humble  herself  to  make  the  truce  with  Athens. 
Demosthenes  was  as  honorably  unknown  in  the  war  of  party 
politics  at  Athens  as  he  was  eminent  in  the  war  against  the  for- 
eign enemy.  .  We  read  of  no  intrigues  of  his  on  either  the  aris- 
tocratic or  democratic  side.  He  was  neither  in  the  interest  of 
Nicias  nor  of  Cleon.  His  private  character  was  free  from  any 
of  the  stains  which  polluted  that  of  Alcibiades.  On  all  these 
points  the  silence  of  the  comic  dramatist  is  decisive  evidence  in 
his  favor.  He  had  also  the  moral  courage,  not  always  combined 
with  physical,  of  seeking  to  do  his  duty  to  his  country  irrespec- 
tively of  any  odium  that  he  himself  might  incur,  and  unhampered 
by  any  petty  jealousy  of  those  who  were  associated  with  him 
in  command.  There  are  few  men  named  in  ancient  history  of 
whom  posterity  would  gladly  know  more,  or  whom  we  sympa- 
thize with  more  deeply  in  the  calamities  that  befell  them,  than 
Demosthenes,  the  son  of  Alcisthenes,  who,  in  the  spring  of  the 
year  413  b.c,  left  Piraeus  at  the  head  of  the  second  Athenian 
expedition  against  Sicily. 

His  arrival  was  critically  timed ;  for  Gylippus  had  encouraged 
the  Syracusans  to  attack  the  Athenians  under  Nicias  by  sea  as 
well  as  by  land,  and  by  an  able  stratagem  of  Ariston,  one  of  the 
admirals  of  the  Corinthian  auxiliary  squadron,  the  Syracusans 
and  their  confederates  had  inflicted  on  the  fleet  of  Nicias  the 
first  defeat  that  the  Athenian  navy  had  ever  sustained  from  a 
numerically  inferior  foe.  Gylippus  was  preparing  to  follow  up 
his  advantage  by  fresh  attacks  on  the  Athenians  on  both  ele- 
ments, when  the  arrival  of  Demosthenes  completely  changed  the 
aspect  of  affairs,  and  restored  the  superiority  to  the  invaders. 
With  seventy-three  war-galleys  in  the  highest  state  of  eflSciency, 
and  brilliantly  equipped,  with  a  force  of  five  thousand  picked 
men  of  the  regular  infantry  of  Athens  and  her  allies,  and  a  still 
larger  number  of  bowmen,  javelin-men,  and  slingers  on  board, 
Demosthenes  rowed  round  the  great  harbor  with  loud  cheers  and 
martial  music,  as  if  in  defiance  of  the  Syracusans  and  their  con- 
federates. His  arrival  had  indeed  changed  their  newly  born 
hopes  into  the  deepest  consternation.  The  resources  of  Athens 
seemed  inexhaustible,  and  resistance  to  her  hopeless.    They  had 


62  DEFEAT  OF  THE  ATHENIANS 

been  told  that  she  was  reduced  to  the  last  extremities,  and  that 
her  territory  was  occupied  by  an  enemy ;  and  yet,  here  they 
saw  her,  as  if  in  prodigality  of  power,  sending  forth,  to  make 
foreign  conquests,  a  second  armament,  not  inferior  to  that  with 
which  Nicias  had  first  landed  on  the  Sicilian  shores. 

With  the  intuitive  decision  of  a  great  commander,  Demos- 
thenes at  once  saw  that  the  possession  of  Epipolae  was  the  key 
to  the  possession  of  Syracuse,  and  he  resolved  to  make  a  prompt 
and  vigorous  attempt  to  recover  that  position,  while  his  force 
was  unimpaired,  and  the  consternation  which  its  arrival  had 
produced  among  the  besieged  remained  unabated.  The  Syra- 
cusans  and  their  allies  had  run  out  an  outwork  along  Epipolse 
from  the  city  walls,  intersecting  the  fortified  lines  of  circumval- 
lation  which  Nicias  had  commenced,  but  from  which  they  had 
been  driven  by  Gylippus.*  Could  Demosthenes  succeed  in 
storming  this  outwork,  and  in  re-establishing  the  Athenian 
troops  on  the  high  ground,  he  might  fairly  hope  to  be  able  to 
resume  the  circumvallation  of  the  city,  and  become  the  con- 
queror of  Syracuse ;  for,  when  once  the  besiegers'  lines  were 
completed,  the  number  of  the  troops  with  which  Gylippus  had 
garrisoned  the  place  would  only  tend  to  exhaust  the  stores  of 
provisions  and  accelerate  its  downfall. 

'  An  easily  repelled  attack  was  first  made  on  the  outwork  m  the 
daytime,  probably  more  with  the  view  of  blinding  the  besieged 
to  the  nature  of  the  main  operations  than  with  any  expectation 
of  succeeding  in  an  open  assault,  with  every  disadvantage  of 
the  ground  to  contend  against.  But  when  the  darkness  had 
set  in,  Demosthenes  formed  his  men  in  columns,  each  soldier 
taking  with  him  five  days'  provisions,  and  the  engineers  and 
workmen  of  the  camp  following  the  troops  with  their  tools,  and 
all  portable  implements  of  fortification,  so  as  at  once  to  secure 
any  advantage  of  ground  that  the  army  might  gain.  Thus 
equipped  and  prepared,  he  led  his  men  along  by  the  foot  of  the 
southern  flank  of  Epipolse,  in  a  direction  towards  the  interior  of 
the  island,  till  he  came  immediately  below  the  narrow  ridge  that 
forms  the  extremity  of  the  high  ground  looking  westward.  He 
then  wheeled  his  vanguard  to  the  right,  sent  them  rapidly  up 
the  paths  that  wind  along  the  face  of  the  cliff,  and  succeeded 
in  completely  surprising  the  Syracusan  outposts,  and  in  placing 
his  troops  fairly  on  the  extreme  summit  of  the  all-important 
Epipolae,     Thence  the  Athenians  marched  eagerly  down  the 

*  See  plan  at  p.  48. 


AT  SYRACUSE,  jb.c.  413.  53 

slope  towards  the  town,  routing  some  Syracusan  detachments 
that  were  quartered  in  their  way,  and  vigorously  assailing  the 
unprotected  part  of  the  outwork.  All  at  first  favored  them. 
The  outwork  was  abandoned  by  its  garrison,  and  the  Athenian 
engineers  began  to  dismantle  it.  In  vain  Gylippus  brought  up 
fresh  troops  to  check  the  assault;  the  Athenians  broke  and 
drove  them  back,  and  continued  to  press  hotly  forward,  in  the 
full  confidence  of  victory.  But,  amid  the  general  consternation 
of  the  Syracusans  and  their  confederates,  one  body  of  infantry 
stood  firm.  This  was  a  brigade  of  their  Boeotian  allies,  which 
was  posted  low  down  the  slope  of  Epipolse,  outside  the  city 
walls.  Coolly  and  steadily  the  Boeotian  infantry  formed  their 
line,  and,  undismayed  by  the  current  of  flight  around  them,  ad- 
vanced against  the  advancing  Athenians.  This  was  the  crisis 
of  the  battle.  But  the  Athenian  van  was  disorganized  by  its 
own  previous  successes ;  and,  yieldmg  to  the  unexpected  charge 
thus  made  on  it  by  troops  in  perfect  order  and  of  the  most  ob- 
stinate courage,  it  was  driven  back  in  confusion  upon  the  other 
divisions  of  the  army  that  still  continued  to  press  forward. 
When  once  the  tide  was  thus  turned,  the  Syracusans  passed 
rapidly  from  the  extreme  of  panic  to  the  extreme  of  vengeful 
daring,  and  with  all  their  forces  they  now  fiercely  assailed  the 
embarrassed  and  receding  Athenians.  In  vain  did  the  officers 
of  the  latter  strive  to  re-form  their  line.  Amid  the  din  and  the 
shouting  of  the  fight,  and  the  confusion  inseparable  upon  a  night 
engagement,  especially  one  where  many  thousand  combatants 
were  pent  and  whirled  together  in  a  narrow  and  uneven  area, 
the  necessary  manoeuvres  were  impracticable ;  and  though  many 
companies  still  fought  on  desperately,  wherever  the  moonlight 
showed  them  the  semblance  of  a  foe,*  they  fought  without  con- 
cert of  subordination  ;•  and  not  unfrequently,  amid  the  deadly 
chaos,  Athenian  troops  assailed  each  other.  Keeping  their 
ranks  close,  the  Syracusans  and  their  allies  pressed  on  against 
the  disorganized  masses  of  the  besiegers;  and  at  length  drove 
them,  with  heavy  slaughter,  over  the  cliffs,  which,  scarce  an 
hour  before,  they  had  scaled  full  of  hope  and  apparently  certain 
of  success. 

This  defeat  was  decisive   of  the  event  of  the  siege.     The 

*  'Hj/  fikv  yap  aeXrjvr)  Xafnrpa,  iiopuiv  dt  o'vrutg  aXXrjXovg,  d>Q  iv  aEkfjvy  HKog 
TTiv  fiiv  oxj/iv  Tov  ffiofiarog  Trpoopq.v  ttjv  dk  yvGiaiv  tov  oIkhov  airiaTHoQai. — 
Thuc,  lib.  vii.,  44.  Compare  Tacitus's  description  of  the  night  engagement  in 
the  civil  war  between  Vespasian  and  Vitellius :  "  Neutro  inclinaverat  fortuna, 
donee  adultd  nocte,  luna  ostenderet  acics,  fallerctque.''^ — Ilist.^  lib.  iii.,  sec.  23. 


54  DEFEAT  OF  THE  ATHENIANS 

Athenians  afterwards  struggled  only  to  protect  themselves  from 
the  vengeance  which  the  Syracusans  sought  to  wreak  in  the 
complete  destruction  of  their  invaders.  Never,  however,  was 
vengeance  more  complete  and  terrible.  A  series  of  sea-fights 
followed,  in  which  the  Athenian  galleys  were  utterly  destroyed 
or  captured.  The  mariners  and  soldiers  who  escaped  death  in 
disastrous  engagements,  and  in  a  vain  attempt  to  force  a  re- 
treat into  the  interior  of  the  island,  became  prisoners  of  war. 
Nicias  and  Demosthenes  were  put  to  death  in  cold  blood ;  and 
their  men  either  perished  miserably  in  the  Syracusan  dungeons, 
or  were  sold  into  slavery  to  the  very  persons  whom,  in  their 
pride  of  power,  they  had  crossed  the  seas  to  enslave. 

All  danger  from  Athens  to  the  independent  nations  of  the 
West  was  now  forever  at  an  end.  She,  indeed,  continued  to 
struggle  against  her  combined  enemies  and  revolted  allies  with 
unparalleled  gallantry  ;  and  many  more  years  of  varying  warfare 
passed  away  before  she  surrendered  to  their  arms.  But  no  suc- 
cess in  subsequent  conquests  could  ever  have  restored  her  to  the 
pre-eminence  in  enterprise,  resources,  and  maritime  skill  which 
she  had  acquired  before  her  fatal  reverses  in  Sicily.  Nor  among 
the  rival  Greek  republics,  whom  her  own, rashness  aided  to  crush 
her,  was  there  any  capable  of  reorganizing  her  empire  or  re- 
suming her  schemes  of  conquest.  The  dominion  of  Western 
Europe  was  left  for  Rome  and  Carthage  to  dispute  two  centuries 
later,  in  conflicts  still  more  terrible,  and  with  even  higher  dis- 
plays of  military  daring  and  genius,  than  Athens  had  witnessed 
either  in  her  rise,  her  meridian,  or  her  fall. 

SYNOPSIS  OF  THE  EVENTS  BETWEEN  THE  DEFEAT  OF  THE 
ATHENIANS  AT  SYRACUSE  AND  THE  BATTLE  OF  ARBELA. 

412  B.C.  Many  of  the  subject  allies  of  Athens  revolt  from 
her,  on  her  disasters  before  Syracuse  being  known ;  the  seat  of 
war  is  transferred  to  the  Hellespont  and  eastern  side  of  the 
^gean. 

410.  The  Carthaginians  attempt  to  make  conquests  in  Sicily. 

407.  Cyrus  the  Younger  is  sent  by  the  King  of  Persia  to  take 
the  government  of  all  the  maritime  parts  of  Asia  Minor,  and 
with  orders  to  help  the  Lacedaemonian  fleet  against  the  Athenian. 

406.  Agrigentum  taken  by  the  Carthaginians. 

405.  The  last  Athenian  fleet  destroyed  by  Lysander  at  ^gos- 
potamos.  Athens  closely  besieged.  Rise  of  the  power  of 
Dionysius  at  Syracuse. 


AT  SYRACUSE,  b.c.  US.  56 

404.  Athens  surrenders.  End  of  the  Peloponnesian  war. 
The  ascendency  of  Sparta  complete  throughout  Greece. 

403.  Thrasybulus,  aided  by  the  Thebans  and  with  the  conni- 
vance of  one  of  the  Spartan  kings,  liberates  Athens  from  the 
Thirty  Tyrants,  and  restores  the  democracy. 

401.  Cyrus  the  Younger  commences  his  expedition  into 
Upper  Asia  to  dethrone  his  brother  Artaxerxes  Mnemon.  He 
takes  with  him  an  auxiliary  force  of  ten  thousand  Greeks.  He 
is  killed  in  battle  at  Cunaxa ;  and  the  ten  thousand,  led  by 
Xenophon,  effect  their  retreat  in  spite  of  the  Persian  armies  and 
the  natural  obstacles  of  their  march. 

399.  In  this,  and  the  five  following  years,  the  Lacedaemonians 
under  Agesilaus  and  other  commanders,  carry  on  war  against 
the  Persian  satraps  in  Asia  Minor. 

396.  Syracuse  is  besieged  by  the  Carthaginians,  and  success- 
fully defended  by  Dionysius. 

394.  Rome  makes  her  first  great  stride  in  the  career  of  con- 
quest by  the  capture  of  Veil. 

393.  The  Athenian  admiral,  Conon,  in  conjunction  with  the 
Persian  satrap,  Pharnabazus,  defeats  the  Lacedaemonian  fleet  off 
Cnidus,  and  restores  the  fortifications  of  Athens,  Several  of  the 
former  allies  of  Sparta  in  Greece  carry  on  hostilities  against  her. 

388,  The  nations  of  Northern  Europe  now  first  appear  in 
authentic  history.  The  Gauls  overrun  great  part  of  Italy,  and 
burn  Rome.  Rome  recovers  from  the  blow,  but  her  old  enemies, 
the  JEquians  and  Volscians,  are  left  completely  crushed  by  the 
Gallic  invaders. 

387.  The  peace  of  Antalcidas  is  concluded  among  the  Greeks 
by  the  mediation  and  under  the  sanction  of  the  Persian  king. 

378  to  361.  Fresh  wars  in  Greece.  Epaminondas  raises 
Thebes  to  be  the  leading  state  of  Greece,  and  the  supremacy  of 
Sparta  is  destroyed  at  the  battle  of  Leuctra.  Epaminondas  is 
killed  in  gaining  the  victory  of  Mantinea,  and  the  power  of 
Thebes  falls  with  him.  The  Athenians  attempt  a  balancing 
system  between  Sparta  and  Thebes. 

359.  Philip  becomes  kmg  of  Macedon. 

357.  The  Social  War  breaks  out  in  Greece,  and  lasts  three 
years.  Its  result  checks  the  attempt  of  Athens  to  regain  her 
old  maritime  empire. 

356.  Alexander  the  Great  is  born. 

343.  Rome  begins  her  wars  with  the  Samnites  :  they  extend 
over  a  period  of  fifty  years.  The  result  of  this  obstinate  con- 
test is  to  secure  for  her  the  dominion  of  Italy. 


56  DEFEAT  OF  THE  ATHENIANS. 

340.  Fresh  attempts  of  the  Carthaginians  upon  Syracuse. 
Timoleon  defeats  them  with  great  slaughter. 

338.  Philip  defeats  the  confederate  armies  of  Athens  and 
Thebes  at  Chaeronea,  and  the  Macedonian  supremacy  over 
Greece  is  firmly  established. 

336.  Philip  is  assassinated,  and  Alexander  the  Great  becomes 
king  of  Macedon.  He  gains  several  victories  over  the  northern 
barbarians  who  had  attacked  Macedonia,  and  destroys  Thebes, 
which,  in  conjunction  with  Athens,  had  taken  up  arms  against 
the  Macedonians. 

334.  Alexander  passes  the  Hellespont. 


BATTLE  OF  ARBELA.  57 


CHAPTER  m. 

THE    BATTLE    OF    ARBELA,   B.C.   331. 

"Alexander  deserves  the  glory  which  he  has  enjoyed  for  so  many  centuries 
and  among  all  nations  ;  but  what  if  he  had  been  beaten  at  Aibela,  having 
the  Euphrates,  the  Tigris,  and  the  deserts  in  the  rear,  without  any  strong 
places  of  refuge,  nine  hundred  leagues  from  Macedonia?" — Napoleon. 

"Asia  beheld  with  astonishment  and  awe  the  uninterrupted  progress 
of  a  hero,  the  sweep  of  whose  conquests  was  as  wide  and  rapid  as  that  of 
her  own  barbaric  kings  or  the  Scythian  or  Chaldaean  hordes  ;  but,  far  un- 
like the  transient  whirlwinds  of  Asiatic  warfare,  the  advance  of  the  Mace- 
donian leader  was  no  less  deliberate  than  rapid  ;  at  every  step  the  Greek 
power  took  root,  and  the  language  and  the  civilization  of  Greece  were 
planted  from  the  shores  of  the  J^gean  to  the  banks  of  the  Indus,  from  the 
Caspian  and  the  great  Hyrcanian  plain  to  the  cataiacts  of  the  Nile ;  to  exist 
actually  for  nearly  a  thousand  years,  and  in  their  effects  to  endure  forever." 
— Arnold. 

A  LONG  and  not  unmstructive  list  might  be  made  out  of  illus- 
trious men  whose  characters  have  been  vindicated  during  recent 
times  from  aspersions  which  for  centuries  had  been  thrown  on 
them.  The  spirit  of  modern  inquiry  and  the  tendency  of 
modern  scholarship,  both  of  which  are  often  said  to  be  solely 
negative  and  destructive,  have,  in  truth,  restored  to  splendor, 
and  almost  created  anew,  far  more  than  they  have  assailed  with 
censure,  or  dismissed  from  consideration  as  unreal.  The  truth 
of  many  a  brilliant  narrative  of  brilliant  exploits  has  of  late 
years  been  triumphantly  demonstrated ;  and  the  shallowness  of 
the  sceptical  scoffs  with  which  little  minds  have  carped  at  the 
great  minds  of  antiquity  has  been  in  many  instances  decisively 
exposed.  The  laws,  the  politics,  and  the  lines  of  action  adopted 
or  recommended  by  eminent  men  and  powerful  nations  have 
been  examined  with  keener  investigation,  and  considered  with 
more  comprehensive  judgment,  than  formerly  were  brought  to 
bear  on  these  subjects.  The  result  has  been  at  least  as  often 
favorable  as  unfavorable  to  the  persons  and  the  states  so  scruti- 
nized ;  and  many  an  oft-repeated  slander  against  both  measures 
and  men  has  thus  been  silenced,  we  may  hope,  forever. 

The  veracity  of  Herodotus,  the  pure  patriotism  of  Pericles,  of 


58  BATTLE  OF  ARBELA. 

Demosthenes,  and  of  the  Gracchi,  the  wisdom  of  Cleisthenes 
and  of  Licinius  as  constitutional  reformers,  may  be  mentioned 
as  facts  which  recent  writers  have  cleared  from  unjust  suspicion 
and  censure.  And  it  might  be  easily  shown  that  the  defensive 
tendency  which  distinguishes  the  present  and  recent  best  his- 
torians of  Germany,  France,  and  England,  has  been  equally 
manifested  in  the  spirit  in  which  they  have  treated  the  heroes 
of  thought  and  the  heroes  of  action  who  lived  during  what  we 
term  the  Middle  Ages,  and  whom  it  was  so  long  the  fashion  to 
sneer  at  or  neglect. 

The  name  of  the  victor  of  Arbela  has  led  to  these  reflections ; 
for,  although  the  rapidity  and  extent  of  Alexander's  conquests 
have  through  all  ages  challenged  admiration  and  amazement,  the 
grandeur  of  genius  which  he  displayed  in  his  schemes  of  com- 
merce, civilization,  and  of  comprehensive  union  and  unity 
among  nations,  has,  until  lately,  been  comparatively  unhon- 
ored.  This  long-continued  depreciation  was  of  early  date.  The 
ancient  rhetoricians — a  class  of  babblers,  a  school  for  lies  and 
scandal,  as  Niebuhr  justly  termed  them — chose  among  the  stock 
themes  for  their  commonplaces  the  character  and  exploits  of 
Alexander.  They  had  their  followers  in  every  age  ;  and  until  a 
very  recent  period,  all  who  wished  to  "  point  a  moral  or  adorn  a 
tale"  about  unreasoning  ambition,  extravagant  pride,  and  the 
formidable  frenzies  of  free  will  when  leagued  with  free  power, 
have  never  failed  to  blazon  forth  the  so-called  madman  of 
Macedonia  as  one  of  the  most  glaring  examples.  Without 
doubt,  many  of  these  writers  adopted  with  implicit  credence 
traditional  ideas,  and  supposed,  with  uninquiring  philanthropy, 
that  in  blackening.  Alexander  they  were  doing  humanity  good 
service.  But  also,  without  doubt,  many  of  his  assailants,  like 
those  of  other  great  men,  have  been  mainly  instigated  by  "  that 
strongest  of  all  antipathies,  the  antipathy  of  a  second-rate  mind 
to  a  first-rate  one,"  *  and  by  the  envy  which  talent  too  often 
bears  to  genius. 

Arrian,  who  wrote  his  history  of  Alexander  when  Hadrian 
was  emperor  of  the  Roman  world,  and  when  the  spirit  of  dec- 
lamation and  dogmatism  was  at  its  full  height,  but  who  was 
himself,  unlike  the  dreaming  pedants  of  the  schools,  a  states- 
man and  a  soldier  of  practical  and  proved  ability,  well  rebuked 
the  malevolent  aspersions  which  he  heard  continually  thrown 
upon  the  memory  of  the  great  conqueror  of  the  East.     He  truly 

*  De  StaeL 


BATTLE  OF  ARBELA.  50 

says,  "Let  the  man  who  speaks  evil  of  Alexander  not  merely 
bring  forward  those  passages  of  Alexander's  life  which  were 
really  evil,  but  let  him  collect  and  review  all  the  actions  of 
Alexander,  and  then  let  him  thoroughly  consider  first  who  and 
what  manner  of  man  he  himself  is,  and  what  has  been  his  own 
career ;  and  then  let  him  consider  who  and  what  manner  of 
man  Alexander  was,  and  to  what  an  eminence  of  human  gran- 
deur he  arrived.  Let  him  consider  that  Alexander  was  a  king, 
and  the  undisputed  lord  of  the  two  continents ;  and .  that  his 
name  is  renowned  throughout  the  whole  earth.  Let  the  evil- 
speaker  against  Alexander  bear  all  this  in  mind,  and  then  let 
him  reflect  on  his  own  insignificance,  the  pettiness  of  his  own 
circumstances  and  affairs,  and  the  blunders  that  he  makes  about 
these,  paltry  and  trifling  as  they  are.  Let  him  then  ask  himself 
whether  he  is  a  fit  person  to  censure  and  revile  such  a  man  as 
Alexander.  I  believe  that  there  was  in  his  time  no  nation  of 
men,  no  city — nay,  no  single  individual — with  whom  Alexander's 
name  had  not  become  a  familiar  word.  I  therefore  hold  that 
such  a  man,  who  was  like  no  ordinary  mortal,  was  not  born 
into  the  world  without  some  special  providence."  * 

And  one  of  the  most  distinguished  soldiers  and  writers  of 
our  own  nation.  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  though  he  failed  to  estimate 
justly  the  full  merits  of  Alexander,  has  expressed  his  sense  of 
the  grandeur  of  the  part  played  in  the  world  by  "  The  Great 
Emathian  Conqueror"  in  language  that  well  deserves  quota- 
tion : 

"  So  much  hath  the  spirit  of  some  one  man  excelled  as  it 
hath  undertaken  and  effected  the  alteration  of  the  greatest  states 
and  commonweals,  the  erection  of  monarchies,  the  conquest  of 
kingdoms  and  empires,  guided  handfuls  of  men  against  multi- 
tudes of  equal  bodily  strength,  contrived  victories  beyond  all 
hope  and  discourse  of  reason,  converted  the  fearful  passions  of 
his  own  followers  into  magnanimity,  and  the  valor  of  his  enemies 
into  cowardice  ;  such  spirits  have  been  stirred  up  in  sundry  ages 
of  the  world,  and  in  divers  parts  thereof,  to  erect  and  cast  down 
again,  to  establish  and  to  destroy,  and  to  bring  all  things,  per- 
sons, and  states  to  the  same  certain  ends,  which  the  infinite 
spirit  of  the  Universal,  piercing,  moving,  and  governing  all 
things,  hath  ordained.  Certainly,  the  things  that  this  king  did 
were  marvellous,  and  would  hardly  have  been  undertaken  by 
any  one  else ;  and  though  his  father  had  determined  to  have 

*  Arrian,  lib.  vii.  adfinem. 


60  BATTLE   OF  ARBMLA. 

invaded  the  Lesser  Asia,  it  is  like  that  he  would  have  contented 
himself  with  some  part  thereof,  and  not  have  discovered  the 
river  Indus,  as  this  man  did."  * 

A  higher  authority  than  either  Arrian  or  Raleigh  may  now 
be  referred  to  by  those  who  wish  to  know  the  real  merit  of 
Alexander  as  a  general,  and  how  far  the  commonplace  assertions 
are  true,  that  his  successes  were  the  mere  results  of  fortunate 
rashness  and  unreasoning  pugnacity.  Napoleon  selected  Alex- 
ander as  one  of  the  seven  greatest  generals  whose  noble  deeds 
history  has  handed  down  to  us,  and  from  the  study  of  whose 
campaigns  the  principles  of  war  are  to  be  learned.  The  critique  of 
the  greatest  conqueror  of  modern  times  on  the  military  career  of 
the  great  conqueror  of  the  old  world  is  no  less  graphic  than  true. 

"  Alexander  crossed  the  Dardanelles  334  B.C.,  with  an  army 
of  about  forty  thousand  men,  of  which  one  eighth  was  cavalry ;  he 
forced  the  passage  of  the  Granicus  in  opposition  to  an  army 
under  Memnon,  the  Greek,  who  commanded  for  Darius  on  the 
coast  of  Asia,  and  he  spent  the  whole  of  the  year  333  in  estab- 
lishing his  power  in  Asia  Minor.  He  was  seconded  by  the 
Greek  colonists,  who  dwelt  on  the  borders  of  the  Black  Sea,  and 
on  the  Mediterranean,  and  in  Smyrna,  Ephesus,  Tarsus,  Miletus, 
etc.  The  kings  of  Persia  left  their  provinces  and  towns  to  be 
governed  according  to  their  own  particular  laws.  Their  empire 
was  a  union  of  confederated  states,  and  did  not  form  one  na- 
tion ;  this  facilitated  its  conquest.  As  Alexander  only  wished 
for  the  throne  of  the  monarch,  he  easily  effected  the  change  by 
respecting  the  customs,  manners,  and  laws  of  the  people,  who 
experienced  no  change  in  their  condition. 

"  In  the  year  332,  he  met  with  Darius  at  the  head  of  sixty 
thousand  men,  who  had  taken  up  a  position  near  Tarsus,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Issus,  in  the  province  of  Cilicia.  He  defeated  him, 
entered  Syria,  took  Damascus,  which  contained  all  the  riches  of 
the  Great  King,  and  laid  siege  to  Tyre.  This  superb  metropolis 
of  the  commerce  of  the  world  detained  him  nine  months.  He 
took  Gaza  after  a  siege  of  two  months ;  crossed  the  desert  in 
seven  days ;  entered  Pelusium  and  Memphis,  and  founded  Alex- 
andria. In  less  than  two  years,  after  two  battles  and  four  or  five 
sieges,  the  coasts  of  the  Black  Sea  from  Phasis  to  Byzantium, 
those  of  the  Mediterranean  as  far  as  Alexandria,  all  Asia  Minor, 
Syria,  and  Egypt,  had  submitted  to  his  arms. 

"  In  331  he  repassed  the  desert,  encamped  in  Tyre,  recrossed 

*  "  The  Historie  of  the  World,"  by  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  Knight,  p.  628. 


BATTLE  OF  ARBELA,  61 

Syria,  entered  Damascus,  passed  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris,  and 
defeated  Darius  on  the  field  of  Arbela,  when  he  was  at  the  head 
of  a  still  stronger  army  than  that  which  he  commanded  on  the 
Issus,  and  Babylon  opened  her  gates  to  him.  In  330,  he  over- 
ran Susa,  and  took  that  city,  Persepolis,  and  Pasargada,  which 
contained  the  tomb  of  Cyrus.  In  329,  he  directed  his  course 
northward,  entered  Ecbatana,  and  extended  his  conquests  to  the 
coasts  of  the  Caspian ;  punished  Bessus,  the  cowardly  assassin 
of  Darius ;  penetrated  into  Scythia,  and  subdued  the  Scythians. 
In  328,  he  forced  the  passage  of  the  Oxus,  received  sixteen 
thousand  recruits  from  Macedonia,  and  reduced  the  neighboring 
people  to  subjection.  In  327,  he  crossed  the  Indus,  vanquished 
Porus  in  a  pitched  battle,  took  him  prisoner,  and  treated  him 
as  a  king.  He  contemplated  passing  the  Ganges,  but  his  army 
refused.  He  sailed  down  the  Indus,  in  the  year  326,  with 
eight  hundred  vessels ;  having  arrived  at  the  ocean,  he  sent 
Nearchus  with  a  fleet  to  run  along  the  coasts  of  the  Indian 
Ocean  and  the  Persian  Gulf,  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the  Eu- 
phrates. In  325,  he  took  sixty  days  in  crossing  from  Gedro- 
sia,  entered  Keramania,  returned  to  Pasargada,  Persepolis,  and 
Susa,  and  married  Statira,  the  daughter  of  Darius.  In  324,  he 
marched  once  more  to  the  north,  passed  Ecbatana,  and  termi- 
nated his  career  at  Babylon."  * 

The  enduring  importance  of  Alexander's  conquests  is  to  be 
estimated  not  by  the  duration  of  his  own  life  and  empire,  or 
even  by  the  duration  of  the  kingdoms  which  his  generals 
after  his  death  formed  out  of  the  fragments  of  that  mighty  do- 
minion. In  every  region  of  the  world  that  he  traversed,  Alex- 
ander planted  Greek  settlements,  and  founded  cities,  in  the 
populations  of  which  the  Greek  element  at  once  asserted  its 
predominance.  Among  his  successors,  the  Seleucidse  and  the 
Ptolemies  imitated  their  great  captain  in  blending  schemes  of 
civilization,  of  commercial  intercourse,  and  of  literary  and  scien- 
tific research  with  all  their  enterprises  of  military  aggrandize- 
ment, and  with  all  their  systems  of  civil  administration.  Such 
was  the  ascendency  of  the  Greek  genius,  so  wonderfully  com- 
prehensive and  assimilating  was  the  cultivation  which  it  intro- 
duced, that,  within  thirty  years  after  Alexander  crossed  the 
Hellespont,  the  language,  the  literature,  and  the  arts  of  Hellas, 
enforced  and  promoted  by  the  arms  of  semi-Hellenic  Macedon, 
predominated  in  every  country  from  the  shores  of  that  sea  to 

*  See  Count  Montholon's  "•Memoirs  of  Napoleon." 


62  BATTLE  OF  ARBELA. 

the  Indian  waters.  Even  sullen  Egypt  acknowledged  the  intel- 
lectual supremacy  of  Greece ;  and  the  language  of  Pericles  and 
Plato  became  the  language  of  the  statesmen  and  the  sages  who 
dwelt  in  the  mysterious  land  of  the  Pyramids  and  the  Sphinx. 
It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  this  victory  of  the  Greek  tongue 
was  so  complete  as  to  exterminate  the  Coptic,  the  Syrian,  the 
Armenian,  the  Persian,  or  the  other  native  languages  of  the 
numerous  nations  and  tribes  between  the  ^gean,  the  laxartes, 
the  Indus,  and  the  Nile ;  they  survived  as  provincial  dialects. 
Each  probably  was  in  use  as  the  vulgar  tongue  of  its  own  dis- 
trict. But  every  person  with  the  slightest  pretence  to  educa- 
tion spoke  Greek.  Greek  was  universally  the  state  language, 
and  the  exclusive  language  of  all  literature  and  science.  It 
formed  also  for  the  merchant,  the  trader,  and  the  traveller,  as 
well  as  for  the  courtier,  the  government  official,  and  the  soldier, 
the  organ  of  intercommunication  among  the  myriads  of  man- 
kind inhabiting  these  large  portions  of  the  Old  World.* 
Throughout  Asia  Minor,  Syria,  and  Egypt,  the  Hellenic  char- 
acter that  was  thus  imparted  remained  in  full  vigor  down  to  the 
time  of  the  Mahometan  conquests.  The  infinite  value  of  this 
to  humanity  in  the  highest  and  holiest  point  of  view  has  often 
been  pointed  out ;  and  the  workings  of  the  finger  of  Providence^ 
have  been  gratefully  recognized  by  those  who  have  observed 
how  the  early  growth  and  progress  of  Christianity  were  aided 
by  that  diffusion  of  the  Greek  language  and  civilization  through- 
out Asia  Minor,  Syria,  and  Egypt  which  had  been  caused  by  the 
Macedonian  conquest  of  the  East. 

In  Upper  Asia,  beyond  the  Euphrates,  the  direct  and  material 
influence  of  Greek  ascendency  was  more  short-lived.  Yet  dur- 
ing the  existence  of  the  Hellenic  kingdoms  in  these  regions,  es- 
pecially of  the  Greek  kingdom  of  Bactria,  the  modern  Bokhara, 
very  important  effects  were  produced  on  the  intellectual  tenden- 
cies and  tastes  of  the  inhabitants  of  those  countries  and  of  the 
adjacent  ones  by  the  animating  contact  of  the  Grecian  spirit. 
Much  of  Hindoo  science  and  philosophy,  much  of  the  literature 
of  the  later  Persian  kingdom  of  the  Arsacidse,  either  originated 
from,  or  was  largely  modified  by,  Grecian  influences.  So,  also, 
the  learning  and  science  of  the  Arabians  were  in  a  far  less  de- 
gree the  result  of  original  invention  and  genius  than  the  repro- 
duction, in  an  altered  form,  of  the  Greek  philosophy  and  the 
Greek  lore  acquired  by  the  Saracenic  conquerors  together  with 

*  See  Arnold,  "  History  of  Rome,"  ii.,  406. 


BATTLE  OF  ARBELA.  63 

their  acquisition  of  the  provinces  which  Alexander  had  sub- 
jugated nearly  a  thousand  years  before  the  armed  disciples 
of  Mahomet  commenced  their  career  in  the  East.  It  is  well 
known  that  Western  Europe  in  the  Middle  Ages  drew  its  phi- 
losophy, its  arts,  and  its  science  principally  from  Arabian  teach- 
ers. And  thus  we  see  how  the  intellectual  influence  of  an- 
cient Greece,  poured  on  the  Eastern  world  by  Alexander's  vic- 
tories, and  then  brought  back  to  bear  on  Mediaeval  Europe  by 
the  spread  of  the  Saracenic  powers,  has  exerted  its  action  on 
the  elements  of  modern  civilization  by  this  powerful  though 
indirect  channel,  as  well  as  by  the  more  obvious  effects  of 
the  remnants  of  classic  civilization  which  survived  in  Italy, 
Gaul,  Britain,  and  Spain  after  the  irruption  of  the  Germanic 
jiations.* 

These  considerations  invest  the  Macedonian  triumphs  in  the 
East  with  never-dying  interest,  such  as  the  most  showy  and  san- 
guinary successes  of  mere  "  low  ambition  and  the  pride  of  kings," 
however  they  may  dazzle  for  a  moment,  can  never  retain  with 
posterity.  Whether  the  old  Persian  empire,  which  Cyrus 
founded,  could  have  survived  much  longer  than  it  did,  even  if 
Darius  had  been  victorious  at  Arbela,  may  safely  be  disputed. 
That  ancient  dominion,  like  the  Turkish  at  the  present  time, 
labored  under  every  cause  of  decay  and  dissolution.  The  sa- 
traps, like  the  modern  pachas,  continually  rebelled  against  the 
central  power ;  and  Egypt,  in  particular,  was  almost  always  in  a 
state  of  insurrection  against  its  nominal  sovereign.  There  was 
no  longer  any  effective  central  control,  or  any  internal  principle 
of  unity  fused  through  the  huge  mass  of  the  empire  and  bind- 
ing it  together.  Persia  was  evidently  about  to  fall ;  but,  had  it 
not  been  for  Alexander's  invasion  of  Asia,  she  would  most  prob- 
ably have  fallen  beneath  some  other  Oriental  power,  as  Media 
and  Babylon  had  formerly  fallen  before  herself,  and  as,  in  after- 
times,  the  Parthian  supremacy  gave  way  to  the  revived  ascen- 
dency of  Persia  in  the  East,  under  the  sceptres  of  the  Arsacidse. 
A  revolution  that  merely  substituted  one  Eastern  power  for  an- 
other would  have  been  utterly  barren  and  unprofitable  to  man- 
kind. 

Alexander's  victory  at  Arbela  not  only  overthrew  an  Oriental 
dynasty,  but  established  European  rulers  in  its  stead.  It  broke 
the  monotony  of  the  Eastern  world  by  the  impression  of  West- 
ern energy  and  superior  civilization;  even  as  England's  present 

♦See  Humboldt's  "Cosmos." 


64  BATTLE  OF  ARBELA, 

mission  is  to  break  up  the  mental  and  moral  stagnation  of  India 
and  Cathay  by  pouring  upon  and  through  them  the  impulsive 
current  of  Anglo-Saxon  commerce  and  conquest. 

Arbela,  the  city  which  has  furnished  its  name  to  the  decisive 
battle  that  gave  Asia  to  Alexander,  lies  more  than  twenty  miles 
from  the  actual  scene  of  conflict.  The  little  village  then  named 
Gaugamela  is  close  to  the  spot  where  the  armies  met,  but  has 
ceded  the  honor  of  naming  the  battle  to  its  more  euphonious 
neighbor.  Gaugamela  is  situated  in  one  of  the  wide  plains  that 
lie  between  the  Tigris  and  the  mountains  of  Kurdistan.  A  few 
undulating  hillocks  diversify  the  surface  of  this  sandy  track ; 
but  the  ground  is  generally  level,  and  admirably  qualified  for 
the  evolutions  of  cavalry,  and  also  calculated  to  give  the  larger 
of  two  armies  the  full  advantage  of  numerical  superiority.  The 
Persian  king  (who,  before  he  came  to  the  throne,  had  proved  his 
personal  valor  as  a  soldier  and  his  skill  as  a  general)  had  wisely 
selected  this  region  for  the  third  and  decisive  encounter  between 
his  forces  and  the  invaders.  The  previous  defeats  of  his  troops, 
however  severe  they  had  been,  were  not  looked  on  as  irrepa- 
rable. The  Granicus  had  been  fought  by  his  generals  rashly  and 
without  mutual  concert.  And,  though  Darius  himself  had  com- 
manded and  been  beaten  at  Issus,  that  defeat  might  be  attributed 
to  the  disadvantageous  nature  of  the  ground ;  where,  cooped  up 
between  the  mountains,  the  river,  and  the  sea,  the  numbers  of 
the  Persians  confused  and  clogged  alike  the  general's  skill  and 
the  soldiers'  prowess,  so  that  their  very  strength  became  their 
weakness.  Here,  on  the  broad  plains  of  Kurdistan,  there  was 
scope  for  Asia's  largest  host  to  array  its  lines,  to  wheel,  to  skir- 
mish, to  condense  or  expand  its  squadrons,  to  manoeuvre,  and  to 
charge  at  will.  Should  Alexander  and  his  scanty  band  dare  to 
plunge  into  that  living  sea  of  war,  their  destruction  seemed  in- 
evitable. 

Darius  felt,  however,  the  critical  nature  to  himself  as  well  as 
to  his  adversary  of  the  coming  encounter.  He  could  not  hope 
to  retrieve  the  consequences  of  a  third  overthrow.  The  great 
cities  of  Mesopotamia  and  Upper  Asia,  the  central  provinces  of 
the  Persian  empire,  were  certain  to  be  at  the  mercy  of  the  victor. 
Darius  knew  also  the  Asiatic  character  well  enough  to  be  aware 
how  it  yields  to  the  prestige  of  success,  and  the  apparent  career 
of  destiny.  He  felt  that  the  diadem  was  now  either  to  be  firmly 
replaced  on  his  own  brow,  or  to  be  irrevocably  transferred  to  the 
head  of  his  European  conqueror.  He,  therefore,  during  the 
long  interval  left  him  after  the  battle  of  Issus,  while  Alexander 


Battle  of  armla.  65 

Was  subjugating  Syria  and  Egypt,  assiduously  busied  himself  in 
selecting  the  best  troops  which  his  vast  empire  supplied,  and  in 
training  his  varied  forces  to  act  together  with  some  uniformity 
of  discipline  and  system. 

The  hardy  mountaineers  of  Afghanistan,  Bokhara,  Khiva,  and 
Thibet  were  then,  as  at  present,  far  different  from  the  gener- 
ality of  Asiatics  in  warlike  spirit  and  endurance.  From  these 
districts  Darius  collected  large  bodies  of  admirable  infantry; 
and  the  countries  of  the  modern  Kurds  and  Turkomans  sup- 
plied, as  they  do  now,  squadrons  of  horsemen,  strong,  skilful, 
bold,  and  trained  to  a  life  of  constant  activity  and  warfare.  It 
is  not  uninteresting  to  notice  that  the  ancestors  of  our  own  late 
enemies,  the  Sikhs,  served  as  allies  of  Darius  against  the  Mace- 
donians. They  are  spoken  of  in  Arrian  as  Indians  who  dwelt 
near  Bactria.  They  were  attached  to  the  troops  of  that  satrapy, 
and  their  cavalry  was  one  of  the  most  formidable  forces  in  the 
whole  Persian  army. 

Besides  these  picked  troops,  contingents  also  came  in  from 
the  numerous  other  provinces  that  yet  obeyed  the  Great  King. 
Altogether,  the  horse  are  said  to  have  been  forty  thousand,  the 
scythe-bearing  chariots  two  hundred,  and  the  armed  elephants 
fifteen  in  number.  The  amount  of  the  infantry  is  uncertain ; 
but  the  knowledge  which  both  ancient  and  modern  times  supply 
of  the  usual  character  of  Oriental  armies,  and  of  their  popula- 
tions of  «amp-followers,  may  warrant  us  in  believing  that  many 
myriads  were  prepared  to  fight,  or  to  encumber  those  who 
fought,  for  the  last  Darius. 

The  position  of  the  Persian  king  near  Mesopotamia  was 
chosen  with  great  military  skill.  It  was  certain  that  Alexander 
on  his  return  from  Egypt  must  march  northward  along  the 
Syrian  coast,  before  he  attacked  the  central  provinces  of  the 
Persian  empire.  A  direct  eastward  march  from  the  lower  part 
of  Palestine  across  the  great  Syrian  desert  was  then,  as  now, 
utterly  impracticable.  Marching  eastward  from  Syria,  Alexan- 
der would,  on  crossing  the  Euphrates,  arrive  at  the  vast  Meso- 
potamian  plains.  The  wealthy  capitals  of  the  empire,  Babylon, 
Susa,  and  Persepolis,  would  then  lie  to  his  south ;  and  if  he 
marched  down  through  Mesopotamia  to  attack  them,  Darius 
might  reasonably  hope  to  follow  the  Macedonians  with  his  im- 
mense force  of  cavalry,  and,  without  even  risking  a  pitched  bat- 
tle, to  harass  and  finally  overwhelm  them.  We  may  remember 
that  three  centuries  afterwards  a  Roman  army  under  Crassus 
was  thus  actually  destroyed  by  the  Oriental  archers  and  horse- 


66  BATTLE  OP  AMSLA. 

men  in  these  very  plains ;  *  and  that  the  ancestors  of  the  Par- 
thians  who  thus  vanquished  the  Roman  legions  served  by 
thousands  under  King  Darius.  If,  on  the  contrary,  Alexander 
should  defer  his  march  against  Babylon,  and  first  seek  an  en- 
counter with  the  Persian  army,  the  country  on  each  side  of  the 
Tigris  in  this  latitude  was  highly  advantageous  for  such  an  army 
as  Darius  commanded ;  and  he  had  close  in  his  rear  the  moun- 
tainous districts  of  Northern  Media,  where  he  himself  had  in 
early  life  been  satrap,  where  he  had  acquired  reputation  as  a 
soldier  and  a  general,  and  where  he  justly  expected  to  find 
loyalty  to  his  person  and  a  safe  refuge  in  case  of  defeat. f 

His  great  antagonist  came  on  across  the  Euphrates  against 
him,  at  the  head  of  an  army  which  Arrian,  copying  from  the 
journals  of  Macedonian  oflicers,  states  to  have  consisted  of  forty 
thousand  foot  and  seven  thousand  horse.  In  studying  the 
*ampaigns  of  Alexander,  we  possess  the  peculiar  advantage  of 
deriving  our  information  from  two  of  Alexander's  generals  of 
division,  who  bore  an  important  part  in  all  his  enterprises. 
Aristobulus  and  Ptolemy  (who  afterwards  became  king  of 
Egypt)  kept  regular  journals  of  the  military  events  which  they 
witnessed ;  and  these  journals  were  in  the  possession  of  Arrian 
when  he  drew  up  his  history  of  Alexander's  expedition.  The 
high  character  of  Arrian  for  integrity  makes  us  confident  that 
he  used  them  fairly,  and  his  comments  on  the  occasional  dis- 
crepancies between  the  two  Macedonian  narratives  prove  that 
he  used  them  sensibly.  He  frequently  quotes  the  very  words 
of  his  authorities :  and  his  history  thus  acquires  a  charm  such 
as  very  few  ancient  or  modern  military  narratives  possess.  The 
anecdotes  and  expressions  which  he  records  we  fairly  believe  to 
be  genuine,  and  not  to  be  the  coinage  of  a  rhetorician,  like 
those  in  Curtius.  In  fact,  in  reading  Arrian,  we  read  General 
Aristobulus  and  General  Ptolemy  on  the  campaigns  of  the  Mac- 
edonians ;  and  it  is  like  reading  General  Jomini  or  General  Foy 
on  the  campaigns  of  the  French. 

The  estimate  which  we  find  in  Arrian  of  the  strength  of  Alex- 

*  See  Mitford. 

f  Mitford's  remarks  on  the  strategy  of  Darius  in  his  last  campaign  are 
very  just.  After  having  been  unduly  admired  as  an  historian,  Mitford  is  now 
unduly  neglected.  His  partiality,  and  his  deficiency  in  scholarship,  have  been 
exposed  sufficiently  to  make  him  no  longer  a  dangerous  guide  as  to  Greek 
politics ;  while  the  clearness  and  brilliancy  of  his  narrative,  and  the  strong 
common-sense  of  his  remarks  (where  his  party  prejudices  do  not  interfere) 
must  always  make  his  volumes  valuable  as  well  as  entertaining. 


BATTLE  OF  ARBELA,  67 

ander's  array  seems  reasonable  when  we  take  into  account  both 
the  losses  which  he  had  sustained  and  the  reinforcements  which 
he  had  received  since  he  left  Europe.  Indeed,  to  Englishmen, 
who  know  with  what  mere  handfuls  of  men  our  own  generals 
have,  at  Plassy,  at  Assaye,  at  Meeanee,  and  other  Indian  battles, 
routed  large  hosts  of  Asiatics,  the  disparity  of  numbers  that  we 
read  of  in  the  victories  won  by  the  Macedonians  over  the  Per- 
sians presents  nothing  incredible.  The  army  which  Alexander 
now  led  was  wholly  composed  of  veteran  troops  in  the  highest 
possible  state  of  equipment  and  discipline,  enthusiastically  de- 
voted to  their  leader,  and  full  of  confidence  in  his  military  gen- 
ius and  his  victorious  destiny. 

The  celebrated  Macedonian  phalanx  formed  the  main  strength 
of  his  infantry.  This  force  had  been  raised  and  organized  by 
his  father  Philip,  who  on  his  accession  to  the  Macedonian  throne 
needed  a  numerous  and  quickly  formed  army,  and  who,  by 
lengthening  ,the  spear  of  the  ordinary  Greek  phalanx,  and  in- 
creasing the  depth  of  the  files,  brought  the  tactic  of  armed 
masses  to  the  greatest  efficiency  of  which  it  was  capable  with 
such  materials  as  he  possessed.*  He  formed  his  men  sixteen 
deep,  and  placed  in  their  grasp  the  sarissa,  as  the  Macedonian 
pike  was  called,  which  was  four-and-twenty  feet  in  length,  and, 
when  couched  for  action,  reached  eighteen  feet  in  front  of  the 
soldier;  so  that,  as  a  space  of  about  two  feet  was  allowed  be- 
tween the  ranks,  the-  spears  of  the  five  files  behind  him  project- 
ed in  advance  of  each  front-rank  man.  The  phalangite  soldier 
was  fully  equipped  in  the  defensive  armor  of  the  regular  Greek  in- 
fantry. And  thus  the  phalanx  presented  a  ponderous  and  bris- 
tling mass,  which,  as  long  as  its  order  was  kept  compact,  was 
sure  to  bear  down  all  opposition.  The  defects  of  such  an  or- 
ganization are  obvious,  and  were  proved  in  after-years,  when  the 
Macedonians  were  opposed  to  the  Roman  legions.  But  it  is 
clear  that,  under  Alexander,  the  phalanx  was  not  the  cumbrous, 
unwieldy  body  which  it  was  at  Cynoscephalae  and  Pydna.  His 
men  were  veterans ;  and  he  could  obtain  from  them  an  accuracy 
of  movement  and  steadiness  of  evolution  such  as  probably  the 
recruits  of  his  father  would  only  have  floundered  in  attempting, 
and  such  as  certainly  were  impracticable  in  the  phalanx  when 
handled  by  his  successors,  especially  as  under  them  it  ceased 
to  be  a  standing  force,  and  became   only  a  militia.f     Under 

*  See  Niebuhr's  "History  of  Rome,"  ill.,  466. 
f  See  Niebuhr. 


68  BATTLE  OF  A  REEL  A. 

Alexander  the  phalanx  consisted  of  an  aggregate  of  eighteen 
thousand  men,  who  were  divided  into  six  brigades  of  three 
thousand  each.  These  were  again  subdivided  into  regiments 
and  companies ;  and  the  men  were  carefully  trained  to  wheel,  to 
face  about,  to  take  more  ground,  or  to  close  up,  as  the  emer- 
gencies of  the  battle  required.  Alexander  also  arrayed,  in  the 
intervals  of  the  regiments  of  his  phalangites,  troops  armed  in  a 
different  manner,  which  could  prevent  their  line  from  being 
pierced,  and  their  companies  taken  in  flank,  when  the  nature  of 
the  ground  prevented  a  close  formation ;  and  which  could  be 
withdrawn,  when  a  favorable  opportunity  arrived  for  closing  up 
the  phalanx  or  any  of  its  brigades  for  a  charge,  or  when  it  was 
necessary  to  prepare  to  receive  cavalry. 

Besides  the  phalanx,  Alexander  had  a  considerable  force  of 
infantry  who  were  called  shield-bearers :  they  were  not  so  heavily 
armed  as  the  phalangites,  or  as  was  the  case  with  the  Greek 
regular  infantry  in  general ;  but  they  were  equipped  for  close 
fight,  as  well  as  for  skirmishing,  and  were  far  superior  to  the 
ordinary  irregular  troops  of  Greek  warfare.  They  were  about 
six  thousand  strong.  Besides  these,  he  had  several  bodies  of 
Greek  regular  infantry ;  and  he  had  archers,  slingers,  and  javelin- 
men,  who  fought  also  with  broadsword  and  target.  These  were 
principally  supplied  to  him  by  the  highlanders  of  Illyria  and 
Thracia.  The  main  strength  of  his  cavalry  consisted  in  two 
chosen  corps  of  cuirassiers — one  Macedonian  and  one  Thessalian 
— each  of  which  was  about  fifteen  hundred  strong.  They  were 
provided  with  long  lances  and  heavy  swords,  and  horse  as  well 
as  man  was  fully  equipped  with  defensive  armor.  Other  regi- 
ments of  regular  cavalry  were  less  heavily  armed,  and  there 
were  several  bodies  of  light  horsemen,  whom  Alexander's  con- 
quests in  Egypt  and  Syria  had  enabled  him  to  mount  superbly. 

A  little  before  the  end  of  August,  Alexander  crossed  the  Eu- 
phrates at  Thapsacus,  a  small  corps  of  Persian  cavalry  under 
Mazseus  retiring  before  him.  Alexander  was  too  prudent  to 
march  down  through  the  Mesopotamian  deserts,  and  continued 
to  advance  eastward  with  the  intention  of  passing  the  Tigris, 
and  then,  if  he  was  unable  to  find  Darius  and  bring  him  to  action, 
of  marching  southward  on  the  left  side  of  that  river  along  the 
skirts  of  a  mountainous  district,  where  his  men  would  suffer  less 
from  heat  and  thirst,  and  where  provisions  would  be  more 
abundant. 

Darius,  finding  that  his  adversary  was  not  to  be  enticed  into 
the  march  through  Mesopotamia  against  bis  capital,  determined 


BATTLE  OF  ARBELA.  69 

to  remain  on  the  battle-ground  which  he  had  chosen  on  the  left 
of  the  Tigris ;  where,  if  his  enemy  met  a  defeat  or  a  check,  the 
destruction  of  the  invaders  would  be  certain  with  two  such  rivers 
as  the  Euphrates  and  the  Tigris  in  their  rear.  The  Persian 
king  availed  himself  to  the  utmost  of  every  advantage  in  his 
power.  He  caused  a  large  space  of  ground  to  be  carefully  levelled 
for  the  operation  of  his  scythe-armed  chariots ;  and  he  deposited 
his  military  stores  in  the  strong  town  of  Arbela,  about  twenty 
miles  in  his  rear.  The  rhetoricians  of  after-ages  have  loved  to 
describe  Darius  Codomannus  as  a  second  Xerxes  in  ostentation 
and  imbecility ;  but  a  fair  examination  of  his  generalship  in  this 
his  last  campaign  shows  that  he  was  worthy  of  bearing  the  same 
name  as  his  great  predecessor,  the  royal  son  of  Hystaspes. 

On  learning  that  Darius  was  with  a  large  army  on  the  left  of 
the  Tigris,  Alexander  hurried  forward  and  crossed  that  river 
without  opposition.  He  was  at  first  unable  to  procure  any  cer- 
tain intelligence  of  the  precise  position  of  the  enemy,  and  after 
giving  his  army  a  short  interval  of  rest,  he  marched  for  four 
days  down  the  left  bank  of  the  river.  A  moralist  may  pause 
upon  the  fact  that  Alexander  must  in  this  march  have  passed 
within  a  few  miles  of  the  remains  of  Nineveh,  the  great  city  of 
the  primaeval  conquerors  of  the  human  race.  Neither  the 
Macedonian  king  nor  any  of  his  followers  knew  what  those  vast 
mounds  had  once  been.  They  had  already  become  nameless 
masses  of  grass-grown  ruins ;  and  it  is  only  within  the  last  few 
years  that  the  intellectual  energy  of  one  of  our  own  country- 
men has  rescued  Nineveh  from  its  long  centuries  of  oblivion.* 

On  the  fourth  day  of  Alexander's  southward  march,  his  ad- 
vance guard  reported  that  a  body  of  the  enemy's  cavalry  was  in 
sight.  He  instantly  formed  his  army  in  order  for  battle,  and, 
directing  them  to  advance  steadily,  he  rode  forward  at  the  head 
of  some  squadrons  of  cavalry,  and  charged  the  Persian  horse 
whom  he  found  before  him.  This  was  a  mere  reconnoitring 
party,  and  they  broke  and  fled  immediately  ;  but  the  Macedonians 
made  some  prisoners,  and  from  them  Alexander  found  that 
Darius  was  posted  only  a  few  miles  off,  and  learned  the  strength 
of  the  army  that  he  had  with  him.  On  receiving  this  news, 
Alexander  halted,  and  gave  his  men  repose  for  four  days,  so 
that  they  should  go  into  action  fresh  and  vigorous.  He  also 
fortified  his  camp,  and  deposited  in  it  all  his  military  stores  and 
all  his  sick  and  disabled  soldiers,  intending  to   advance  upon 

*  See  Layard's  "Nineveh,"  and  also  Vaux's  "Nineveh  and  Persepolis," 

p.  le. 


70  BATTLE  OF  ARBELA. 

the  enemy  with  the  serviceable  part  of  his  army  perfectly  un- 
encumbered. After  this  halt  he  moved  forward,  while  it  was 
yet  dark,  with  the  intention  of  reaching  the  enemy,  and  attack- 
ing them  at  break  of  day.  About  half-way  between  the  camps 
there  were  some  undulations  of  the  ground,  which  concealed 
the  two  armies  from  each  other's  view.  But,  on  Alexander 
arriving  at  their  summit,  he  saw  by  the  early  light  the  Persian 
host  arrayed  before  him ;  and  he  probably  also  observed  traces 
of  some  engineering  operation  having  been  carried  on  along 
part  of  the  ground  in  front  of  them.  Not  knowing  that  these 
marks  had  been  caused  by  the  Persians  having  levelled  the 
ground  for  the  free  use  of  their  war-chariots,  Alexander  sus- 
pected that  hidden  pitfalls  had  been  prepared  with  a  view  of 
disordering  the  approach  of  his  cavalry.  He  summoned  a 
council  of  war  forthwith.  Some  of  the  officers  were  for  attacking 
instantly  at  all  hazards,  but  the  more  prudent  opinion  of  Par- 
men  io  prevailed,  and  it  was  determined  not  to  advance  farther 
till  the  battle-ground  had  been  carefully  surveyed. 

Alexander  halted  his  army  on  the  heights  ;  and,  taking  with 
him  some  light-armed  infantry  and  some  cavalry,  he  passed  part 
of  the  day  in  reconnoitring  the  enemy,  and  observing  the  nature 
of  the  ground  which  he  had  to  fight  on.  Darius  wisely  refrained 
from  moving  from  his  position  to  attack  the  Macedonians  on 
the  eminences  which  they  occupied,  and  the  two  armies  remained 
until  night  without  molesting  each  other.  On  Alexander's  re- 
turn to  his  headquarters,  he  summoned  his  generals  and  superior 
oflficers  together,  and,  telling  them  that  he  well  knew  that  their 
zeal  wanted  no  exhortation,  he  besought  them  to  do  their  utmost 
in  encouraging  and  instructing  those  whom  each  commanded, 
to  do  their  best  in  the  next  day's  battle.  They  were  to  remind 
them  that  they  were  now  not  going  to  fight  for  a  province,  as 
they  had  hitherto  fought,  but  they  were  about  to  decide  by  their 
swords  the  dominion  of  all  Asia.  Each  oflScer  ought  to  impress 
this  upon  his  subalterns,  and  they  should  urge  it  on  their  men. 
Their  natural  courage  required  no  long  words  to  excite  its  ardor ; 
but  they  should  be  reminded  of  the  paramount  importance  of 
steadiness  in  action.  The  silence  in  the  ranks  must  be  unbroken 
as  long  as  silence  was  proper ;  but  when  the  time  came  for  the 
charge,  the  shout  and  the  cheer  must  be  full  of  terror  for  the 
foe.  The  oflScers  were  to  be  alert  in  receiving  and  commu- 
nicating orders;  and  every  one  was  to  act  as  if  he  felt  that  the 
whole  result  of  the  battle  depended  on  his  own  single  good  con- 
duct. 


BATTLE  OF  ARBELA.  71 

Having  thus  briefly  instructed  his  generals,  Alexander  ordered 
that  the  army  should  sup,  and  take  their  rest  for  the  night. 

Darkness  had  closed  over  the  tents  of  the  Macedonians, 
when  Alexander's  veteran  general,  Parmenio,  came  to  him,  and 
proposed  that  they  should  make  a  night  attack  on  the  Persians. 
The  king  is  said  to  have  answered,  that  he  scorned  to  filch  a 
victory,  and  that  Alexander  must  conquer  openly  and  fairly. 
Arrian  justly  remarks  that  Alexander's  resolution  was  as  wise 
as  it  was  spirited.  Besides  the  confusion  and  uncertainty  which 
are  inseparable  from  night  engagements,  the  value  of  Alexander's 
victory  would  have  been  impaired  if  gained  under  circumstances 
which  might  supply  the  enemy  with  any  excuse  for  his  defeat 
and  encourage  him  to  renew  the  contest.  It  was  necessary  for 
Alexander  not  only  to  beat  Darius,  but  to  gain  such  a  victory 
as  should  leave  his  rival  without  apology  for  defeat,  and  with- 
out hope  of  recovery. 

The  Persians,  in  fact,  expected,  and  were  prepared  to  meet,  a 
night  attack.  Such  was  the  apprehension  that  Darius  enter- 
tained of  it,  that  he  formed  his  troops  at  evening  in  order  of  battle, 
and  kept  them  under  arms  all  night.  The  effect  of  this  was, 
that  the  morning  found  them  jaded  and  dispirited,  while  it 
brought  their  adversaries  all  fresh  and  vigorous  against  them. 

The  written  order  of  battle  which  Darius  himself  caused  to 
be  drawn  up  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Macedonians  after  the 
engagement,  and  Aristobulus  copied  it  into  his  journal.  We 
thus  possess,  through  Arrian,  unusually  authentic  information 
as  to  the  composition  and  arrangement  of  the  Persian  army. 
On  the  extreme  left  were  the  Bactrian,  Daan,  and  Arachosian 
cavalry.  Next  to  these  Darius  placed  the  troops  from  Persia 
proper,  both  horse  and  foot.  Then  came  the  Susians,  and  next 
to  these  the  Cadusians.  These  forces  made  up  the  left  wing. 
Darius's  own  station  was  in  the  centre.  This  was  composed  of 
the  Indians,  the  Carians,  the  Mardian  archers,  and  the  division 
of  Persians  who  were  distinguished  by  the  golden  apples  that 
formed  knobs  on  their  spears.  Here  also  were  stationed  the 
body-guard  of  the  Persian  nobility.  Besides  these,  there  were 
in  the  centre,  formed  in  deep  order,  the  Uxian  and  Babylonian 
troops,  and  the  soldiers  from  the  Red  Sea.  The  brigade  of 
Greek  mercenaries  whom  Darius  had  in  his  service,  and  who 
were  alone  considered  fit  to  stand  in  the  charge  of  the  Mace- 
donian phalanx,  was  drawn  up  on  either  side  of  the  royal  char- 
iot. The  right  wing  was  composed  of  the  Coelosyrians  and 
Mesopotamians,  the  Medes,  the  Parthians,  the  Sacians,  the  Ta- 


tg  BATTLE  OF  ARBELA. 

purians,  Hyrcanians,  Albanians,  and  Sacesinse.  In  advance  of 
the  line  on  the  left  wing  were  placed  the  Scythian  cavalry,  with 
a  thousand  of  the  Bactrian  horse,  and  a  hundred  scythe-armed 
chariots.  The  elephants  and  fifty  scythe-armed  chariots  were 
ranged  in  front  of  the  centre ;  and  fifty  more  chariots,  with  the 
Armenian  and  Cappadocian  cavalry,  were  drawn  up  in  advance 
of  the  right  wing. 

Thus  arrayed,  the  great  host  of  King  Darius  passed  the  night, 
that  to  many  thousands  of  them  was  the  last  of  their  existence. 
The  morning  of  the  first  of  October,*  two  thousand  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty-two  years  ago,  dawned  slowly  to  their  wearied 
watching,  and  they  could  hear  the  note  of  the  Macedonian  trum- 
pet sounding  to  arms,  and  could  see  King  Alexander's  forces 
descend  from  their  tents  on  the  heights,  and  form  in  order  of 
battle  on  the  plain. 

There  was  deep  need  of  skill,  as  well  as  of  valor,  on  Alexan- 
der's side ;  and  few  battle-fields  have  witnessed  more  consum- 
mate generalship  than  was  now  displayed  by  the  Macedonian 
king.  There  were  no  natural  barriers  by  which  he  could  pro- 
tect his  flanks ;  and  not  only  was  he  certain  to  be  overlapped  on 
either  wing  by  the  vast  lines  of  the  Persian  army,  but  there  was 
imminent  risk  of  their  circling  round  him  and  charging  him  in 
the  rear,  while  he  advanced  against  their  centre.  He  formed, 
therefore,  a  second  or  reserve  line,  which  was  to  wheel  round,  if 
required,  or  to  detach  troops  to  either  flank,  as  the  enemy's 
movements  might  necessitate  ;  and  thus,  with  their  whole  army 
ready  at  any  moment  to  be  thrown  into  one  vast  hollow  square, 
the  Macedonians  advanced  in  two  lines  against  the  enemy,  Alex- 
ander himself  leading  on  the  right  wing,  and  the  renowned  pha- 
lanx forming  the  centre,  while  Parmenio  commanded  on  the  left. 

Such  was  the  general  nature  of  the  disposition  which  Alex- 
ander made  of  his  army.  But  we  have  in  Arrian  the  details  of 
the  position  of  each  brigade  and  regiment;  and  as  we  know 
that  these  details  were  taken  from  the  journals  of  Macedonian 
generals,  it  is  interesting  to  examine  them,  and  to  read  the 
names  and  stations  of  King  Alexander's  generals  and  colonels 
in  this  the  greatest  of  his  battles. 

The  eight  troops  of  the  royal  horse-guards  formed  the  right 
of  Alexander's  line.  Their  captains  were  Cleitus  (whose  regi- 
ment was  on  the  extreme  right,  the  post  of  peculiar  danger), 

*  See  Clinton's  "  Fasti  Hellenici."  The  battle  was  fought  eleven  days  after 
an  eclipse  of  the  moon,  which  gives  the  means  of  fixing  the  precise  date. 


BATTLE  OF  ARBELA. 


1Z 


Glaucias,  Ariston,  Sopolis,  Ileracleides,  Demetrias,  Meleager, 
and  Hegelochus.  Philotas  was  general  of  the  whole  division. 
Then  came  the  shield  -  bearing  infantry :  Nicanor  was  their 
general.  Then  came  the  phalanx,  in  six  brigades.  Coenus's 
brigade  was  on  the  right,  the  nearest  to  the  shield-bearers ;  next 
to  this  stood  the  brigade  of  Perdiccas,  then  Meleager's,  then 
Polysperchon's ;  and  then  the  brigade  of  Amynias,  but  which 
was  now  commanded  by  Simmias,  as  Amynias  had  been  sent  to 
Macedonia  to  levy  recruits.     Then  came  the  infantry  of  the  left 


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PLAN   OF  THE  BATTLE   OF  ARBELA. 

wing,  under  the  command  of  Craterus.  Next  to  Craterus's  in- 
fantry were  placed  the  cavalry  regiments  of  the  allies,  with 
Eriguius  for  their  general.  The  Thessalian  cavalry,  commanded 
by  Philippus,  were  next,  and  held  the  extreme  left  of  the  whole 
army.  The  whole  left  wing  was  intrusted  to  the  command  of 
Parraenio,  who  had  round  his  person  the  Pharsalian  troop  of 
cavalry,  which  was  the  strongest  and  best  amid  all  the  Thessalian 
horse-regiments. 

The  centre  of  the  second  line  was  occupied  by  a  body  of 
phalangite  infantry,  formed  of  companies,  which  were  drafted  for 
this  purpose  from  each  of  the  brigades  of  their  phalanx.  The 
officers  in  command  of  this  corps  were  ordered  to  be  ready  to 
face  about  if  the  enemy  should  succeed  in  gaining  the  rear  of 
the  army.  On  the  right  of  this  reserve  of  infantry,  in  the  sec- 
ond line,  and  behind  the  royal  horse-guards,  Alexander  placed 


74  BATTLE  OF  ARBELA.  ^^ 

half  the  Agrian  light-armed  infantry  under  Attains,  and  with 
them  Brison's  body  of  Macedonian  archers,  and  Oleander's  regi- 
ment of  foot.  He  also  placed  in  this  part  of  his  army  Menidas's 
squadron  of  cavalry,  and  Aretes's  and  Ariston's  light  horse. 
Menidas  was  ordered  to  watch  if  the  enemy's  cavalry  tried  to 
turn  the  flank,  and  if  they  did  so,  to  charge  them  before  they 
wheeled  completely  round,  and  so  take  them  in  flank  themselves. 
A  similar  force  was  arranged  on  the  left  of  the  second  line  for 
the  same  purpose.  The  Thracian  infantry  of  Sitalces  were  placed 
there,  and  Coeranus's  regiment  of  the  cavalry  of  the  Greek  allies, 
and  Agathon's  troops  of  the  Odrysian  irregular  horse.  The 
extreme  left  of  the  second  line  in  this  quarter  was  held  by  An- 
dromachus's  cavalry.  A  division  of  Thracian  infantry  was  left 
in  guard  of  the  camp.  In  advance  of  the  right  wing  and  centre 
were  scattered  a  number  of  light-armed  troops,  of  javelin-men 
and  bowmen,  with  the  intention  of  warding  off  the  charge  of 
the  armed  chariots.* 

Conspicuous  by  the  brilliancy  of  his  armor,  and  by  the  chosen 
band  of  officers  who  were  round  his  person,  Alexander  took  his 
own  station,  as  his  custom  was,  in  the  right  wing,  at  the  head 
of  his  cavalry;  and  when  all  the  arrangements  for  the  battle 
were  complete,  and  his  generals  were  fully  instructed  how  to 
act  in  each  probable  emergency,  he  began  to  lead  his  men  tow- 
ards the  enemy. 

It  was  ever  his  custom  to  expose  his  life  freely  in  battle,  and 
to  emulate  the  personal  prowess  of  his  great  ancestor,  Achilles. 
Perhaps,  in  the  bold  enterprise  of  conquering  Persia,  it  was  pol- 
itic for  Alexander  to  raise  his  army's  daring  to  the  utmost  by 
the  example  of  his  own  heroic  valor ;  and,  in  his  subsequent 
campaigns,  the  love  of  the  excitement,  of  "  the  rapture  of  the 
strife,"  may  have  made  him,  like  Murat,  continue  from  choice  a 
custom  which  he  commenced  from  duty.  But  he  never  suffered 
the  ardor  of  the  soldier  to  make  him  lose  the  coolness  of  the 
general ;  and  at  Arbela,  in  particular,  he  showed  that  he  could 
act  up  to  his  favorite  Homeric  maxim  of  being 

'Afi^oTepov,  I3a(n\£vg  t   dyaObg  Kparepog  t   aixntjTtjg. 

Great  reliance  had  been  placed  by  the  Persian  king  on  the 
effects  of  the  scythe  -  bearing  chariots.     It  was   designed   to 

*  Kleber's  arrangement  of  his  troops  at  the  battle  of  Heliopolis,  where, 
with  ten  thousand  Europeans,  he  hajd  to  encounter  eighty  thousand  Asiatics 
in  an  open  plain,  is  worth  corapai'ing  with  Alexander's  tactics  at  Arbela.  See 
Thiers's  "  Histoire  du  Consulat,"  etc.,  vol.  ii.,  livre  v. 


BATTLE  OF  ARBELA.  VS 

launch  these  against  the  Macedonian  phalanx,  and  to  follow 
them  up  by  a  heavy  charge  of  cavalry,  which  it  was  hoped 
would  find  the  ranks  of  the  spearmen  disordered  by  the  rush  of 
the  chariots,  and  easily  destroy  this  most  formidable  part  of 
Alexander's  force.  In  front,  therefore,  of  the  Persian  centre, 
where  Darius  took  his  station,  and  which  it  was  supposed  the 
phalanx  would  attack,  the  ground  had  been  carefully  levelled 
and  smoothed,  so  as  to  allow  the  chariots  to  charge  over  it  with 
their  full  sweep  and  speed.  As  the  Macedonian  army  ap- 
proached the  Persian,  Alexander  found  that  the  front  of  his 
whole  line  barely  equalled  the  front  of  the  Persian  centre,  so 
that  he  was  outflanked  on  his  right  by  the  entire  left  wing  of 
the  enemy,  and  by  their  entire  right  wing  on  his  left.  His  tac- 
tics were  to  assail  some  one  point  of  the  hostile  army  and  gain 
a  decisive  advantage,  while  he  refused,  as  far  as  possible,  the 
encounter  along  the  rest  of  the  line.  He  therefore  inclined  his 
order  of  march  to  the  right,  so  as  to  enable  his  right  wing  and 
centre  to  come  into  collision  with  the  enemy  on  as  favorable 
terms  as  possible,  though  the  manoeuvre  might  in  some  respects 
compromise  his  left. 

The  effect  of  this  oblique  movement  was  to  bring  the  phalanx 
and  his  own  wing  nearly  beyond  the  limits  of  the  ground  which 
the  Persians  had  prepared  for  the  operations  of  the  chariots ; 
and  Darius,  fearing  to  lose  the  benefit  of  this  arm  against  the 
most  important  parts  of  the  Macedonian  force,  ordered  the  Scy- 
thian and  Bactrian  cavalry,  who  were  drawn  up  on  his  extreme 
left,  to  charge  round  upon  Alexander's  right  wing,  and  check  its 
further  lateral  progress.  Against  these  assailants  Alexander 
sent  from  his  second  line  Menidas's  cavalry.  As  these  proved 
too  few  to  make  head  against  the  enemy,  he  ordered  Ariston 
also  from  the  second  line  with  his  light  horse,  and  Oleander 
with  his  foot,  in  support  of  Menidas.  The  Bactrians  and  Scyth- 
ians now  began  to  give  way,  but  Darius  reinforced  them  by 
the  mass  of  Bactrian  cavalry  from  his  main  line,  and  an  obsti- 
nate cavalry  fight  now  took  place.  The  Bactrians  and  Scythians 
were  numerous,  and  were  better  armed  than  the  horsemen  under 
Menidas  and  Ariston ;  and  the  loss  at  first  was  heaviest  on  the 
Macedonian  side.  But  still  the  European  cavalry  stood  the 
charge  of  the  Asiatics,  and  at  last,  by  their  superior  discipline, 
and  by  acting  in  squadrons  that  supported  each  other,  in- 
stead of  fighting  in  a  confused  mass  like  the  barbarians,*  the 

*'A\Xa  Kal  &g  tolq  TrponjSoXdg  avTutv  iSsxovTo  oi  MaKsdoveg,  Kai  /3tf  Kar 
iXa  TTpoaiTiTrrovTEQ  t^(i)9ovp  Ik  rrjg  rd^eiog, — Arrian,  lib.  iii.,  c.  13. 


76  BATTLE  OF  ARBELA. 

Macedonians  broke  their  adversaries,  and  drove  them  off  the 
field. 

Darius  now  directed  the  scythe-armed  chariots  to  be  driven 
against  Alexander's  horse-guards  and  the  phalanx ;  and  these 
formidable  vehicles  were  accordingly  sent  rattling  across  the 
plain,  against  the  Macedonian  line.  When  we  remember  the 
alarm  which  the  war -chariots  of  the  Britons  created  among 
Caesar's  legions,  we  shall  not  be  prone  to  deride  this  arm  of  an- 
cient warfare  as  always  useless.  The  object  of  the  chariots  was 
to  create  unsteadiness  in  the  ranks  against  which  they  were 
driven,  and  squadrons  of  cavalry  followed  close  upon  them,  to 
profit  by  such  disorder.  But  the  Asiatic  chariots  were  rendered 
ineffective  at  Arbela  by  the  light-armed  troops  whom  Alexan- 
der had  specially  appointed  for  the  service,  and  who,  wounding 
the  horses  and  drivers  with  their  missile  weapons,  and  running 
alongside  so  as  to  cut  the  traces  or  seize  the  reins,  marred  the 
intended  charge  ;  and  the  few  chariots  that  reached  the  phalanx 
passed  harmlessly  through  the  intervals  which  the  spearmen 
opened  for  them,  and  were  easily  captured  in  the  rear. 

A  mass  of  the  Asiatic  cavalry  was  now,  for  the  second  time, 
collected  against  Alexander's  extreme  right,  and  moved  round  it, 
with  the  view  of  gaining  the  flank  of  his  army.  At  the  critical 
moment,  Aretes,  with  his  horsemen  from  Alexander's  second 
line,  dashed  on  the  Persian  squadrons  when  their  own  flanks 
were  exposed  by  this  evolution.  While  Alexander  thus  met 
and  baffled  all  the  flanking  attacks  of  the  enemy  with  troops 
brought  up  from  his  second  line,  he  kept  his  own  horse-guards 
and  the  rest  of  the  front  line  of  his  wing  fresh,  and  ready  to 
take  advantage  of  the  first  opportunity  for  striking  a  decisive 
blow.     This  soon  came.     A  large  body  of  horse,  who  were 

The  best  explanation  of  this  may  be  found  in  Napoleon's  account  of  the 
cavalry  fights  between  the  French  and  the  Mamelukes: — "Two  Mamelukes 
were  able  to  make  head  against  three  Frenchmen,  because  they  were  better 
armed,  better  mounted,  and  better  trained;  they  had  two  pair  of  pistols,  a 
blunderbuss,  a  carbine,  a  helmet  with  a  vizor,  and  a  coat  of  mail ;  they  had 
several  horses,  and  several  attendants  on  foot.  One  hundred  cuirassiers, 
however,  were  not  afraid  of  one  hundred  Mamelukes ;  three  hundred  could 
beat  an  equal  number,  and  one  thousand  could  easily  put  to  the  rout  fifteen 
hundred,  so  great  is  the  influence  of  tactics,  order,  and  evolutions !  Leclerc 
and  Lasalle  presented  their  men  to  the  Mamelukes  in  several  lines.  When 
the  Arabs  were  on  the  point  of  overwhelming  the  first,  the  second  came  to  its 
assistance  on  the  right  and  left;  the  Mamelukes  then  halted  and  wheeled,  in 
order  to  turn  the  wings  of  this  new  line ;  this  moment  was  always  seized  upon 
to  charge  them, and  they  were  uniformly  broken." — Montholon's  "History  of 
the  Captivity  of  Napoleon,"  iv.,  70. 


BATTLE  OF  ARBELA.  Y7 

posted  on  the  Persian  left  wing  nearest  to  the  centre,  quitted 
their  station,  and  rode  off  to  help  their  comrades  in  the  cavalry 
fight  that  still  was  going  on  at  the  extreme  right  of  Alexander's 
wing  against  the  detachments  from  his  second  line.  This  made 
a  huge  gap  in  the  Persian  array,  and  into  this  space  Alexander 
instantly  dashed  with  his  guard ;  and  then  pressing  towards  his 
left,  he  soon  began  to  make  havoc  in  the  left  flank  of  the  Per- 
sian centre.  The  shield  -  bearing  infantry  now  charged  also 
among  the  reeling  masses  of  the  Asiatics ;  and  five  of  the  bri- 
gades of  the  phalanx,  with  the  irresistible  might  of  their  saris- 
sas,  bore  down  the  Greek  mercenaries  of  Darius,  and  dug  their 
way  through  the  Persian  centre.  In  the  early  part  of  the  bat- 
tle, Darius  had  shown  skill  and  energy ;  and  he  now  for 
some  time  encouraged  his  men,  by  voice  and  example,  to  keep 
firm.  But  the  lances  of  Alexander's  cavalry  and  the  pikes  of 
the  phalanx  now  gleamed  nearer  and  nearer  to  him.  His 
charioteer  was  struck  down  by  a  javelin  at  his  side ;  and  at  last 
Darius's  nerve  failed  him  ;  and,  descending  from  his  chariot,  he 
mounted  on  a  fleet  horse  and  galloped  from  the  plain,  regardless 
of  the  state  of  the  battle  in  other  parts  of  the  field,  where  mat- 
ters were  going  on  much  more  favorably  for  his  cause,  and 
where  his  presence  might  have  done  much  towards  gaining  a 
victory. 

Alexander's  operations  with  his  right  and  centre  had  exposed 
his  left  to  an  immensely  preponderating  force  of  the  enemy. 
Parmenio  kept  out  of  action  as  long  as  possible;  but  Mazaeus, 
who  commanded  the  Persian  right  wing,  advanced  against  him, 
completely  outflanked  him,  and  pressed  him  severely  with  reit- 
erated charges  by  superior  numbers.  Seeing  the  distress  of 
Parmenio's  wing,  Simmias,  who  commanded  the  sixth  brigade 
of  the  phalanx,  which  was  next  to  the  left  wing,  did  not  ad- 
vance with  the  other  brigades  in  the  great  charge  upon  the  Per- 
sian centre,  but  kept  back  to  cover  Parmenio's  troops  on  their 
right  flank ;  as  otherwise  they  would  have  been  completely  sur- 
rounded and  cut  off  from  the  rest  of  the  Macedonian  army. 
By  so  doing,  Simmias  had  unavoidably  opened  a  gap  in  the 
Macedonian  left  centre ;  and  a  large  column  of  Indian  and  Per- 
sian horse,  from  the  Persian  right  centre,  had  galloped  forward 
through  this  interval,  and  right  through  the  troops  of  the  Mace- 
donian second  line.  Instead  of  then  wheeling  round  upon  Par- 
menio, or  upon  the  rear  of  Alexander's  conquering  wing,  the 
Indian  and  Persian  cavalry  rode  straight  on  to  the  Macedonian 
camp,  overpowered  the  Thracians  who  were  left  in  charge  of  it; 


"78  BATTLE  OF  ARBELA. 

and  began  to  plunder.  This  was  stopped  by  the  phalangite 
troops  of  the  second  line,  who,  after  the  enemy's  horsemen  had 
rushed  by  them,  faced  about,  countermarched  upon  the  camp, 
killed  many  of  the  Indians  and  Persians  in  the  act  of  plunder- 
ing, and  forced  the  rest  to  ride  off  again.  Just  at  this  crisis 
Alexander  had  been  recalled  from  his  pursuit  of  Darius  by  ti- 
dings of  the  distress  of  Parmenio,  and  of  his  inability  to  bear  up 
any  longer  against  the  hot  attacks  of  Maza3us.  Taking  his  horse- 
guards  with  him,  Alexander  rode  towards  the  part  of  the  field 
where  his  left  wing  was  fighting  ;  but  on  his  way  thither  he  en- 
countered the  Persian  and  Indian  cavalry,  on  their  return  from 
his  camp. 

These  men  now  saw  that  their  only  chance  of  safety  was  to 
cut  their  way  through ;  and  in  one  huge  column  they  charged 
desperately  upon  the  Macedonians.  There  was  here  a  close 
hand-to-hand  fight,  which  lasted  some  time,  and  sixty  of  the 
royal  horse-guards  fell,  and  three  generals,  who  fought  close  to 
Alexander's  side,  were  wounded.  At  length  the  Macedonian 
discipline  and  valor  S,gain  prevailed,  and  a  large  number  of  the 
Persian  and  Indian  horsemen  were  cut  down ;  some  few  only 
succeeded  in  breaking  through  and  riding  away.  Relieved  of 
these  obstinate  enemies,  Alexander  again  formed  his  horse- 
guards,  and  led  them  towards  Parmenio ;  but  by  this  time  that 
general  also  was  victorious.  Probably  the  news  of  Darius's 
flight  had  reached  Maza3us,  and  had  damped  the  ardor  of  the 
Persian  right  wing ;  while  the  tidings  of  their  comrades'  suc- 
cess must  have  proportionally  encouraged  the  Macedonian  forces 
under  Parmenio.  His  Thessalian  cavalry  particularly  distin- 
guished themselves  by  their  gallantry  and  persevering  good 
conduct ;  and  by  the  time  that  Alexander  had  ridden  up  to  Par- 
menio, the  whole  Persian  army  was  in  full  flight  from  the  field. 

It  was  of  the  deepest  importance  to  Alexander  to  secure  the 
person  of  Darius,  and  he  now  urged  on  the  pursuit.  The  river 
Lycus  was  between  the  field  of  battle  and  the  city  of  Arbela, 
whither  the  fugitives  directed  their  course,  and  the  passage  of 
this  river  was  even  more  destructive  to  the  Persians  than  the 
swords  and  spears  of  the  Macedonians  had  been  in  the  engage- 
ment.* The  narrow  bridge  was  soon  choked  up  by  the  flying 
thousands  who  rushed  towards  it,  and  vast  numbers  of  the  Per- 


*  I  purposely  omit  any  statement  of  the  loss  in  the  battle.  There  is  a  pal- 
pable error  of  the  transcribers  in  the  numbers  which  we  find  in  our  present 
manuscripts  of  Arrian ;  and  Curtius  is  of  no  authority. 


BATTLE  OF  ARBELA.  79 

sians  threw  themselves,  or  were  hurried  by  others,  into  the  rapid 
stream,  and  perished  in  its  waters.  Darius  had  crossed  it,  and 
had  ridden  on  through  Arbela  without  halting.  Alexander 
reached  that  city  on  the  next  day,  and  made  himself  master  of 
all  Darius's  treasure  and  stores ;  but  the  Persian  king,  unfortu- 
nately for  himself,  had  fled  too  fast  for  his  conqueror ;  he  had 
only  escaped  to  perish  by  the  treachery  of  his  Bactrian  satrap, 
Bessus. 

A  few  days  after  the  battle  Alexander  entered  Babylon,  "  the 
oldest  seat  of  earthly  empire  "  then  in  existence,  as  its  acknowl- 
edged lord  and  master.  There  were  yet  some  campaigns  of  his 
brief  and  bright  career  to  be  accomplished.  Central  Asia  was 
yet  to  witness  the  march  of  his  phalanx.  He  was  yet  to  effect 
that  conquest  of  Afghanistan  in  which  England  since  has  failed. 
His  generalship,  as  well  as  his  valor,  was  yet  to  be  signalized 
on  the  banks  of  the  Hydaspes  and  the  field  of  Chillianwallah ; 
and  he  was  yet  to  precede  the  Queen  of  England  in  annexing 
the  Punjab  to  the  dominions  of  a  European  sovereign.  But 
the  crisis  of  his  career  was  reached ;  the  great  object  of  his  mis- 
sion was  accomplished ;  and  the  ancient  Persian  empire,  which 
once  menaced  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  with  subjection,  was 
irreparably  crushed  when  Alexander  had  won  his  crowning  vic- 
tory at  Arbela. 

SYNOPSIS  OF  EVENTS  BETWEEN  THE  BATTLE  OF  ARBELA  AND 
THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  METAURUS. 

B.C.  330.  The  Lacedaemonians  endeavor  to  create  a  rising  in 
Greece  against  the  Macedonian  power.  They  are  defeated  by 
Antipater,  Alexander's  viceroy ;  and  their  king,  Agis,  falls  in 
the  battle. 

330  to  327.  Alexander's  campaigns  in  Upper  Asia.  "  Hav- 
ing conquered  Darius,  Alexander  pursued  his  way,  encountering 
difficulties  which  would  have  appalled  almost  any  other  general, 
through  Bactriana,  and  taking  Bactra,  or  Zariaspa  (now  Balkh), 
the  chief  city  of  that  province,  where  he  spent  the  winter.  Cross- 
ing the  Oxus,  he  advanced  in  the  following  spring  to  Marakanda 
(Samarcand)  to  replace  the  loss  of  horses  which  he  had  sustained 
in  crossing  the  Caucasus,  to  obtain  supplies  from  the  rich  valley 
of  Sogd  (the  Mahometan  Paradise  of  Mader-al-Nahr),  and  to 
enforce  the  submission  of  Transoxiana.  The  northern  limit  of 
his  march  is  probably  represented  by  the  modern  Uskand,  or 
Aderkand,  a  village  on  the  laxartes,  near  the  end  of  the  Ferga- 


80  BATTLE  OF  ARBELA. 

nah  district.  In  Margiana  he  founded  another  Alexandria.  Re- 
turning from  the  north,  he  led  on  his  army  in  the  hope  of  con- 
quering India,  till  at  length,  marching  in  a  line  apparently  nearly 
parallel  with  the  Kdbul  River,  he  arrived  at  the  celebrated  rock 
Aornos,  the  position  of  which  must  have  been  on  the  right  bank 
of  the  Indus,  at  some  distance  from  Attock ;  and  it  may  per- 
haps be  represented  by  the  modern  Akora." — (Vaux.) 

327,  326.  Alexander  marches  through  Afghanistan  to  the 
Punjab.  He  defeats  Porus.  His  troops  refuse  to  march  tow- 
ards the  Ganges,  and  he  commences  the  descent  of  the  Indus. 
On  his  march  he  attacks  and  subdues  several  Indian  tribes,  among 
others  the  Malli ;  in  the  storming  of  whose  capital  (Mooltan)  he 
is  severely  wounded.  He  directs  his  admiral,  Nearchus,  to  sail 
round  from  the  Indus  to  the  Persian  Gulf,  and  leads  the  army 
back  across  Scinde  and  Beloochistan. 

324.  Alexander  returns  to  Babylon.  "  In  the  tenth  year  after 
he  had  crossed  the  Hellespont,  Alexander,  having  won  his  vast 
dominion,  entered  Babylon  ;  and,  resting  from  his  career  in  that 
oldest  seat  of  earthly  empire,  he  steadily  surveyed  the  mass  of 
various  nations  which  owned  his  sovereignty,  and  revolved  in  his 
mind  the  great  work  of  breathing  into  this  huge  but  inert  body 
the  living  spirit  of  Greek  civilization.  In  the  bloom  of  youthful 
manhood,  at  the  age  of  thirty-two,  he  paused  from  the  fiery  speed 
of  his  earlier  course ;  and  for  the  first  time  gave  the  nations  an 
opportunity  of  offering  their  homage  before  his  throne.  They 
came  from  all  the  extremities  of  the  earth  to  propitiate  his  anger, 
to  celebrate  his  greatness,  or  to  solicit  his  protection.  .  .  .  His- 
tory may  allow  us  to  think  that  Alexander  and  a  Roman  ambas- 
sador did  meet  at  Babylon  ;  that  the  greatest  man  of  the  ancient 
world  saw  and  spoke  with  a  citizen  of  that  great  nation,  which 
was  destined  to  succeed  him  in  his  appointed  work,  and  to  found 
a  wider  and  still  more  enduring  empire.  They  met,  too,  in  Bab- 
ylon, almost  beneath  the  shadow  of  the  temple  of  Bel,  perhaps 
the  earliest  monument  ever  raised  by  human  pride  and  power, 
in  a  city  stricken,  as  it  were,  by  the  word  of  God's  heaviest  judg- 
ment, as  the  symbol  of  greatness  apart  from  and  opposed  to  good- 
ness."— (Arnold.) 

323.  Alexander  dies  at  Babylon.  On  his  death  being  known 
at  Greece,  the  Athenians,  and  others  of  the  southern  states,  take 
up  arms  to  shake  off  the  domination  of  Macedon.  They  are  at 
first  successful ;  but  the  return  of  some  of  Alexander's  veterans 
from  Asia  enables  Antipater  t6  prevail  over  them. 

317  to  289.  Agathocles  is  tyrant  of  Syracuse,  and  carries  on 


BATTLE  OF  ARBELA.  81 

repeated  wars  with  the  Carthaginians,  in  the  course  of  which 
(311)  he  invades  Africa  and  reduces  the  Carthaginians  to  great 
distress. 

306.  After  a  long  series  of  wars  with  each  other,  and  after  all 
the  heirs  of  Alexander  had  been  murdered,  his  principal  surviv- 
ing generals  assume  the  title  of  king,  each  over  the  provinces 
which  he  has  occupied.  The  four  chief  among  them  were  An- 
tigonus,  Ptolemy,  Lysimachus,  and  Seleucus.  Antipater  was 
now  dead,  but  his  son  Cassander  succeeded  to  his  power  in 
Macedonia  and  Greece. 

301.  Seleucus  and  Lysimachus  defeat  Antigonus  at  Ipsus. 
Antigonus  is  killed  in  the  battle. 

280.  Seleucus,  the  last  of  Alexander's  captains,  is  assassinated. 
Of  all  Alexander's  successors,  Seleucus  had  formed  the  most 
powerful  empire.  He  had  acquired  all  the  provinces  between 
Phrygia  and  the  Indus.  He  extended  his  dominion  in  India 
beyond  the  limits  reached  by  Alexander.  Seleucus  had  some 
sparks  of  his  great  master's  genius  in  promoting  civilization  and 
commerce,  as  well  as  in  gaining  victories.  Under  his  succes- 
sors, the  Seleucidse,  this  vast  empire  rapidly  diminished ;  Bac- 
tria  became  independent,  and  a  separate  dynasty  of  Greek  kings 
ruled  there  in  the  year  125,  when  it  was  overthrown  by  the 
Scythian  tribes.  Parthia  threw  off  its  allegiance  to  the  Seleuci- 
dae  in  250  b.c,  and  the  powerful  Parthian  kingdom,  which  after- 
wards proved  so  formidable  a  foe  to  Rome,  absorbed  nearly  all 
the  provinces  west  of  the  Euphrates  that  had  obeyed  the  first 
Seleucus.  Before  the  battle  of  Ipsus,  Mithridates,  a  Persian 
prince  of  the  blood-royal  of  the  Achaemenidse,  had  escaped  to 
Pontus,  and  founded  there  the  kingdom  of  that  name. 

Besides  the  kingdom  of  Seleucus,  which,  when  limited  to 
Syria,  Palestine,  and  parts  of  Asia  Minor,  long  survived  the 
most  important  kingdom  formed  by  a  general  of  Alexander,  was 
that  of  the  Ptolemies  in  Egypt.  The  throne  of  Macedonia  was 
long  and  obstinately  contended  for  by  Cassander,  Polysperchon, 
Lysimachus,  Pyrrhus,  Antigonus,  and  others;  but  at  last  was 
secured  by  the  dynasty  of  Antigonus  Gonatas.  The  old  repub- 
lics of  Southern  Greece  suffered  severely  during  these  tumults, 
and  the  only  Greek  states  that  showed  any  strength  and  spirit 
were  the  cities  of  the  Achaean  League,  the  JEtolians,  and  the  isl- 
anders of  Rhodes. 

290.  Rome  had  now  thoroughly  subdued  the  Samnites  and 
the  Etruscans,  and  had  gained  numerous  victories  over  the  Cis- 
alpine Gauls.     Wishing  to  confirm  her  dominion  in  Lower  Italy, 


82  BATTLE  OF  ARBELA. 

she  became  entangled  in  a  war  with  Pyrrhus,  fourth  king  of 
Epirus,  who  was  called  over  by  the  Tarentines  to  aid  them. 
Pyrrhus  was  at  first  victorious,  but  in  the  year  275  was  defeat- 
ed by  the  Roman  legions  in  a  pitched  battle.  He  returned  to 
Greece,  remarking  of  Sicily,  Omv  airoKtiiroiitv  Kapxn^ovioig  Kal 
'Pw/io/otc  7ra\a/<7Tjoav,  "  Rome  becomes  mistress  of  all  Italy  from 
the  Rubicon  to  the  Straits  of  Messina." 

264.  The  first  Punic  war  begins.  Its  primary  cause  was  the 
desire  of  both  the  Romans  and  the  Carthaginians  to  possess 
themselves  of  Sicily.  The  Romans  form  a  fleet,  and  success- 
fully compete  with  the  marine  of  Carthage.*  During  the  latter 
half  of  the  war  the  military  genius  of  Hamilear  Barca  sustains 
the  Carthaginian  cause  in  Sicily.  At  the  end  of  twenty-four 
years  the  Carthaginians  sue  for  peace,  though  their  aggregate 
loss  in  ships  and  men  had  been  less  than  that  sustained  by  the 
Romans  since  the  beginning  of  the  war.  Sicily  becomes  a  Ro- 
man province. 

240  to  218.  The  Carthaginian  mercenaries  who  had  been 
brought  back  from  Sicily  to  Africa  mutiny  against  Carthage, 
and  nearly  succeed  in  destroying  her.  After  a  sanguinary  and 
desperate  struggle,  Hamilear  Barca  crushes  them.  During  this 
season  of  weakness  to  Carthage,  Rome  takes  from  her  the  island 
of  Sardinia.  Hamilear  Barca  forms  the  project  of  obtaining 
compensation  by  conquests  in  Spain,  and  thus  enabling  Car- 
thage to  renew  the  struggle  with  Rome.  He  takes  Hannibal 
(then  a  child)  to  Spain  with  him.  He  and  (after  his  death)  his 
brother  win  great  part  of  Southern  Spain  to  the  Carthaginian 
interest.  Hannibal  obtains  the  command  of  the  Carthaginian 
armies  in  Spain,  221  b.c,  being  then  twenty -six  years  old.  He 
attacks  Saguntum,  a  city  on  the  Ebro  in  alliance  with  Rome, 
which  is  the  immediate  pretext  for  the  second  Punic  war. 

During  this  interval  Rome  had  to  sustain  a  storm  from  the 
north.  The  Cisalpine  Gauls,  in  226,  formed  an  alliance  with 
one  of  the  fiercest  tribes  of  their  brethren  north  of  the  Alps, 
and  began  a  furious  war  against  the  Romans,  which  lasted  six 
years.     The  Romans  gave  them  several  severe  defeats,  and  took 

*  There  is  at  this  present  raoment  [written  in  June,  1851]  in  the  Great 
Exhibition  at  Hyde  Park  a  model  of  a.  piratical  galley  of  Labuan,  part  of  the 
mast  of  which  can  be  let  down  on  an  enemy,  and  form  a  bridge  for  boarders. 
It  is  worth  while  to  compare  this  with  the  account  in  Polybius  of  the  board- 
ing bridges  which  the  Roman  admiral,  Duilius,  affixed  to  the  masts  of  his 
galleys,  and  by  means  of  which  he  won  his  great  victory  over  the  Carthagin- 
ian fleet. 


BATTLE  OF  ARBELA.  83 

from  them  part  of  their  territories  near  the  Po.  It  was  on  this 
occasion  that  the  Roman  colonies  of  Cremona  and  Placentia 
were  founded,  the  latter  of  which  did  such  essential  service  to 
Rome  in  the  second  Punic  war,  by  the  resistance  which  it  made 
to  the  army  of  Hasdrubal.  A  muster-roll  was  made  in  this  war 
of  the  effective  military  force  of  the  Romans  themselves,  and  of 
those  Italian  states  that  were  subject  to  them.  The  return  showed 
a  force  of  seven  hundred  thousand  foot  and  seventy  thousand 
horse.  Polybius,  who  mentions  this  muster,  remarks:  'E^'  ovq 
'AvvijSag  iXdrrovg  '^X^^  ^Lafxvp'nov^  £Tri(3a\ev  elg  rt)v  'IraXiay. 
218.  Hannibal  crosses  the  Alps  and  invades  Italy. 


84  BATTLE  OF  THE  METAURU8, 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  METAURUS,  B.C.  207. 

"  Quid  debeas,  o  Roma,  Neronibus, 
Testis  Metaurum  fiumen,  et  IJasdrubal 
Devictus,  et  pulcher  fugatis 
lUe  dies  Latio  tenebris. 

"  Qui  primus  alma  risit  adorea ; 
Dirus  per  urbes  Afer  ut  Italas, 
Ceu  flamma  per  taedas,  vel  Eurus 
^  Per  Siculas  equitavit  undas." — Horatius,  Od.  iv.,  4. 

"...  The  consul  Nero,  who  made  the  unequalled  march  which  deceived 
Hannibal,  and  defeated  Hasdrubal,  thereby  accomplishing  an  achievement 
almost  unrivalled  in  military  annals.  The  first  intelligence  of  his  return,  to 
Hannibal,  was  the  sight  of  Hasdrubal's  head  thrown  into  his  camp.  When 
Hannibal  saw  this,  he  exclaimed,  with  a  sigh,  that  '  Rome  would  now  be  the 
mistress  of  the  world.'  To  this  victory  of  Nero's  it  might  be  owing  that  his 
imperial  namesake  reigned  at  all.  But  the  infamy  of  the  one  has  eclipsed 
the  glory  of  the  other.  When  the  name  of  Nero  is  heard,  who  thinks  of  the 
consul  ?     But  such  are  human  things." — Byron. 

About  midway  between  Rimini  and  Ancona  a  little  river  falls 
into  the  Adriatic,  after  traversing  one  of  those  districts  of  Italy 
in  which  a  vain  attempt  has  lately  been  made  to  revive,  after  long 
centuries  of  servitude  and  shame,  the  spirit  of  Italian  nationality 
and  the  energy  of  free  institutions.  That  stream  is  still  called 
the  Metauro  ;  and  wakens  by  its  name  recollections  of  the  reso- 
lute daring  of  ancient  Rome,  and  of  the  slaughter  that  stained 
its  current  two  thousand  and  sixty-three  years  ago,  when  the 
combined  consular  armies  of  Livius  and  Nero  encountered  and 
crushed  near  its  banks  the  varied  hosts  which  Hannibal's  brother 
was  leading  from  the  Pyrenees,  the  Rhone,  the  Alps,  and  the  Po, 
to  aid  the  great  Carthaginian  in  his  stern  struggle  to  annihilate 
the  growing  might  of  the  Roman  Republic,  and  make  the  Punic 
power  supreme  over  all  the  nations  of  the  world. 

The  Roman  historian,  who  termed  that  struggle  the  most  mem- 
orable of  all  wars  that  ever  were  carried  on,*  wrote  in  no  spirit 

*  Livy,  lib.  xxi.,  sec.  1. 


BATTLE  OF  THE  METAURUS.  85 

of  exaggeration.  For  it  is  not  in  ancient,  but  in  modern  histo- 
ry that  parallels  for  its  incidents  and  its  heroes  are  to  be  found. 
The  similitude  between  the  contest  which  Rome  maintained 
against  Hannibal,  and  that  which  England  was  for  many  years 
engaged  in  against  Napoleon,  has  not  passed  unobserved  by  re- 
cent historians.  "  Twice,"  says  Arnold,*  "  has  there  been  wit- 
nessed the  struggle  of  the  highest  individual  genius  against  the 
resources  and  institutions  of  a  great  nation;  and  in  both  cases 
the  nation  has  been  victorious.  For  seventeen  years  Hannibal 
strove  against  Rome ;  for  sixteen  years  Napoleon  Bonaparte 
strove  against  England :  the  efforts  of  the  first  ended  in  Zama, 
those  of  the  second  in  Waterloo."  One  point,  however,  of  the 
similitude  between  the  two  wars  has  scarcely  been  adequately 
dwelt  on.  That  is,  the  remarkable  parallel  between  the  Roman 
general  who  finally  defeated  the  great  Carthaginian,  and  the  Eng- 
lish general  who  gave  the  last  deadly  overthrow  to  the  French 
emperor.  Scipio  and  Wellington  both  held  for  many  years  com- 
mands of  high  importance,  but  distant  from  the  main  theatres 
of  warfare.  The  same  country  was  the  scene  of  the  principal 
military  career  of  each.  It  was  in  Spain  that  Scipio,  like  Wel- 
lington, successively  encountered  and  overthrew  nearly  all  the 
subordinate  generals  of  the  enemy,  before  being  opposed  to  the 
chief  champion  and  conqueror  himself.  Both  Scipio  and  Wel- 
lington restored  their  countrymen's  confidence  in  arms,  when 
shaken  by  a  series  of  reverses.  And  each  of  them  closed  a  long 
and  perilous  war  by  a  complete  and  overwhelming  defeat  of  the 
chosen  leader  and  the  chosen  veterans  of  the  foe. 

Nor  is  the  parallel  between  them  limited  to  their  military 
characters  and  exploits.  Scipio,  like  Wellington,  became  an  im- 
portant leader  of  the  aristocratic  party  among  his  countrymen, 
and  was  exposed  to  the  unmeasured  invectives  of  the  violent 
section  of  his  political  antagonists.  When,  early  in  the  last 
reign,  an  infuriated  mob  assaulted  the  Duke  of  Wellington  in 
the  streets  of  the  English  capital  on  the  anniversary  of  Waterloo, 
England  was  even  more  disgraced  by  that  outrage  than  Rome 
was  by  the  factious  accusations  which  demagogues  brought 
against  Scipio,  but  which  he  proudly  repelled  on  the  day  of 
trial  by  reminding  the  assembled  people  that  it  was  the  anni- 
versary of  the  battle  of  Zama,  Happily,  a  wiser  and  a  better 
spirit  has  now  for  years  pervaded  all  classes  of  our  community ; 
and  we  shall  be  spared  the  ignominy  of  having  worked  out  to 

*  Vol.  ill.,  p.  62.     See  also  Alison,  passim. 


86  BATTLE  OF  THE  METAURU8, 

the  end  the  parallel  of  national  ingratitude.  Scipio  died  a  vol- 
untary exile  from  the  malevolent  turbulence  of  Rome.  English- 
men of  all  ranks  and  politics  have  now  long  united  in  affection- 
ate admiration  of  our  modern  Scipio  ;  and  even  those  who  have 
most  widely  differed  from  the  duke  on  legislative  or  administra- 
tive questions  forget  what  they  deem  the  political  errors  of  that 
time-honored  head,  while  they  gratefully  call  to  mind  the  laurels 
that  have  wreathed  it. 

Scipio  at  Zama  trampled  in  the  dust  the  power  of  Carthage ; 
but  that  power  had  been  already  irreparably  shattered  in  another 
field  where  neither  Scipio  nor  Hannibal  commanded.  When  the 
Metaurus  witnessed  the  defeat  and  death  of  Hasdrubal,  it  wit- 
nessed the  ruin  of  the  scheme  by  which  alone  Carthage  could 
hope  to  organize  decisive  success — the  scheme  of  enveloping 
Rome  at  once  from  the  north  and  the  south  of  Italy  by  chosen 
armies,  led  by  two  sons  of  Hamilcar.*  That  battle  was  the  de- 
termining crisis  of  the  contest,  not  merely  between  Rome  and 
Carthage,  but  between  the  two  great  families  of  the  world,  which 
then  made  Italy  the  arena  of  their  oft-renewed  contest  for  pre- 
eminence. 

The  French  historian  Michelet,  whose  "  Histoire  Romaine  " 
would  have  been  invaluable  if  the  general  industry  and  accuracy 
of  the  writer  had  in  any  degree  equalled  his  originality  and  brill- 
iancy, eloquently  remarks :  "  It  is  not  without  reason  that  so 
universal  and  vivid  a  remembrance  of  the  Punic  wars  has  dwelt 
in  the  memories  of  men.  They  formed  no  mere  struggle  to  de- 
termine the  lot  of  two  cities  or  two  empires  ;  but  it  was  a  strife 
on  the  event  of  which  depended  the  fate  of  two  races  of  man- 
kind, whether  the  dominion  of  the  world  should  belong  to  the 
Indo-Germanic  or  to  the  Semitic  family  of  nations.  Bear  in 
mind  that  the  first  of  these  comprises,  besides  the  Indians  and 
the  Persians,  the  Greeks,  the  Romans,  and  the  Germans.  In  the 
other  are  ranked  the  Jews  and  the  Arabs,  the  Phoenicians  and 
the  Carthaginians.  On  the  one  side  is  the  genius  of  heroism,  of 
art,  and  legislation  ;  on  the  other  is  the  spirit  of  industry,  of 
commerce,  of  navigation.  The  two  opposite  races  have  every- 
where come  into  contact,  everywhere  into  hostility.  In  the 
primitive  history  of  Persia  and  Chaldea,  the  heroes  are  perpetu- 
ally engaged  in  combat  with  their  industrious  and  perfidious 
neighbors.  The  struggle  is  renewed  between  the  Phoenicians 
and  the  Greeks  on  every  coast  of  the  Mediterranean.    The  Greek 

*  See  Arnold,  vol.  iii.,  p.  887. 


BATTLE  OF  THE  METAURU8.  87 

supplants  the  Phoenician  in  all  his  factories,  all  his  colonies  in 
the  East;  soon  will  the  Roman  come,  and  do  likewise  in  the 
West.  Alexander  did  far  more  against  Tyre  than  Salmanasar  or 
Nabuchodonosor  had  done.  Not  content  with  crushing  her,  he 
took  care  that  she  never  should  revive  ;  for  he  founded  Alexan- 
dria as  her  substitute,  and  changed  forever  the  track  of  com- 
merce of  the  world.  There  remained  Carthage  —  the  great 
Carthage,  and  her  mighty  empire — mighty  in  a  far  different  de- 
gree than  Phoenicia's  had  been.  Rome  annihilated  it.  Then 
occurred  that  which  has  no  parallel  in  history :  an  entire  civil- 
ization perished  at  one  blow — vanished,  like  a  falling  star.  The 
'  Periplus '  of  Hanno,  a  few  coins,  a  score  of  lines  in  Plautus,  and, 
lo,  all  that  remains  of  the  Carthaginian  world! 

"  Many  generations  must  needs  pass  away  before  the  struggle 
between  the  two  races  could  be  renewed ;  and  the  Arabs,  that 
formidable  rear-guard  of  the  Semitic  world,  dashed  forth  from 
their  deserts.  The  conflict  between  the  two  races  then  became 
the  conflict  of  two  religions.  Fortunate  was  it  that  those  daring 
Saracenic  cavaliers  encountered  in  the  East  the  impregnable  walls 
of  Constantinople,  in  the  West  the  chivalrous  valor  of  Charles 
Martel  and  the  sword  of  the  Cid.  The  crusades  were  the  nat- 
ural reprisals  for  the  Arab  invasions,  and  form  the  last  epoch  of 
that  great  struggle  between  the  two  principal  families  of  the 
human  race." 

It  is  difficult,  amid  the  glimmering  light  supplied  by  the  allu- 
sions of  the  classical  writers,  to  gain  a  full  idea  of  the  character 
and  institutions  of  Rome's  great  rival.  But  we  can  perceive  how 
inferior  Carthage  was  to  her  competitor  in  military  resources ; 
and  how  far  less  fitted  than  Rome  she  was  to  become  the  founder 
of  centralized  and  centralizing  dominion  that  should  endure  for 
centuries,  and  fuse  into  imperial  unity  the  narrow  nationalities 
of  the  ancient  races  that  dwelt  around  and  near  the  shores  of 
the  Mediterranean  Sea. 

Carthage  was  originally  neither  the  most  ancient  nor  the  most 
powerful  of  the  numerous  colonies  which  the  Phoenicians  planted 
on  the  coast  of  Northern  Africa.  But  her  advantageous  position, 
the  excellence  of  her  constitution  (of  which,  though  ill-informed 
as  to  its  details,  we  know  that  it  commanded  the  admiration  of 
Aristotle),  and  the  commercial  and  political  energy  of  her  citi- 
zens gave  her  the  ascendency  over  Hippo,  Utica,  Leptis,  and  her 
other  sister  Phoenician  cities  in  those  regions ;  and  she  finally 
reduced  them  to  a  condition  of  dependency,  similar  to  that 
which  the  subject  allies  of  Athens  occupied  relatively  to  that 


&a  BATTLE  OF  THE  METAuMs: 

once  imperial  city.  When  Tyre  and  Sidon  and  the  other  cities 
of  Phoenicia  itself  sank  from  independent  republics  into  mere 
vassal  states  of  the  great  Asiatic  monarchies,  and  obeyed  by 
turns  a  Babylonian,  a  Persian,  and  a  Macedonian  master,  their 
power  and  their  traffic  rapidly  declined ;  and  Carthage  succeeded 
to  the  important  maritime  and  commercial  character  which  they 
had  previously  maintained.  The  Carthaginians  did  not  seek  to 
compete  with  the  Greeks  on  the  northeastern  shores  of  the  Med- 
iterranean, or  in  the  three  inland  seas  which  are  connected  with 
it ;  but  they  maintained  an  active  intercourse  with  the  Phoeni- 
cians, and  through  them  with  Lower  and  Central  Asia ;  and  they, 
and  they  alone,  after  the  decline  and  fall  of  Tyre,  navigated  the 
waters  of  the  Atlantic.  They  had  the  monopoly  of  all  the  com- 
merce of  the  world  that  was  carried  on  beyond  the  Straits  of 
Gibraltar.  We  have  yet  extant  (in  a  Greek  translation)  the  nar- 
rative of  the  voyage  of  Hanno,  one  of  their  admirals,  along  the 
western  coast  of  Africa  as  far  as  Sierra  Leone.  And  in  the 
Latin  poem  of  Festus  Avienus,  frequent  references  are  made  to  the 
records  of  the  voyages  of  another  celebrated  Carthaginian  admi- 
ral, Himilco,  who  had  explored  the  northwestern  coast  of  Europe. 
Our  own  islands  are  mentioned  by  Himilco  as  the  lands  of  the 
Hiberni  and  the  Albioni.  It  is  indeed  certain  that  the  Cartha- 
ginians frequented  the  Cornish  coast  (as  the  Phoenicians  had 
done  before  them)  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  tin ;  and  there 
is  every  reason  to  believe  that  they  sailed  as  far  as  the  coasts  of 
the  Baltic  for  amber.  When  it  is  remembered  that  the  mariner's 
compass  was  unknown  in  those  ages,  the  boldness  and  skill  of 
the  seamen  of  Carthage,  and  the  enterprise  of  her  merchants, 
may  be  paralleled  with  any  achievements  that  the  history  of 
modern  navigation  and  commerce  can  supply. 

In  their  Atlantic  voyages  along  the  African  shores,  the  Cartha- 
ginians followed  the  double  object  of  traffic  and  colonization. 
The  numerous  settlements  that  were  planted  by  them  along  the 
coast  from  Morocco  to  Senegal  provided  for  the  needy  members 
of  the  constantly  increasing  population  of  a  great  commercial 
capital ;  and  also  strengthened  the  influence  which  Carthage  ex- 
ercised among  the  tribes  of  the  African  coast.  Besides  her 
fleets,  her  caravans  gave  her  a  large  and  lucrative  trade  with  the 
native  Africans ;  nor  must  we  limit  our  belief  of  the  extent  of 
the  Carthaginian  trade  with  the  tribes  of  Central  and  Western 
Africa  by  the  narrowness  of  the  commercial  intercourse  which 
civilized  nations  of  modern  times  have  been  able  to  create  in 
those  regions. 


BATTLE  OF  THE  METAURU8.  89 

Although  essentially  a  mercantile  and  seafaring  people,  the 
Carthaginians  by  no  means  neglected  agriculture.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  whole  of  their  territory  was  cultivated  like  a  garden. 
The  fertility  of  the  soil  repaid  the  skill  and  toil  bestowed  on  it ; 
and  every  invader,  from  Agathocles  to  Scipio  ^milianus,  was 
struck  with  admiration  at  the  rich  pasture-lands  carefully  irriv 
gated,  the  abundant  harvests,  the  luxuriant  vineyards,  the  plan- 
tations of  fig  and  olive  trees,  the  thriving  villages,  the  populous 
towns,  and  the  splendid  villas  of  the  wealthy  Carthaginians, 
through  which  his  march  lay,  as  long  as  he  was  on  Carthaginian 
ground. 

The  Carthaginians  abandoned  the  ^gean  and  the  Pontus  to 
the  Greeks,  but  they  were  by  no  means  disposed  to  relinquish  to 
those  rivals  the  commerce  and  the  dominion  of  the  coasts  of  the 
Mediterranean  westward  of  Italy.  For  centuries  the  Carthagin- 
ians strove  to  make  themselves  masters  of  the  islands  that  lie 
between  Italy  and  Spain.  They  acquired  the  Balearic  Islands, 
where  the  principal  harbor,  Port  Mahon,  still  bears  the  name 
of  the  Carthaginian  admiral.  They  succeeded  in  reducing  the 
greater  part  of  Sardinia  ;  but  Sicily  could  never  be  brought  into 
their  power.  They  repeatedly  invaded  that  island,  and  nearly 
overran  it ;  but  the  resistance  which  was  opposed  to  them  by 
the  Syracusans,  under  Gelon,  Dionysius,  Timoleon,  and  Agatho- 
cles, preserved  the  island  from  becoming  Punic,  though  many 
of  its  cities  remained  under  the  Carthaginian  rule,  until  Rome 
finally  settled  the  question  to  whom  Sicily  was  to  belong  by  con- 
quering it  for  herself. 

With  so  many  elements  of  success — with  almost  unbounded 
wealth,  with  commercial  and  maritime  activity,  with  a  fertile 
territory,  with  a  capital  city  of  almost  impregnable  strength,  with 
a  constitution  that  insured  for  centuries  the  blessings  of  social 
order,  with  an  aristocracy  singularly  fertile  in  men  of  the  high- 
est genius — Carthage  yet  failed  signally  and  calamitously  in  her 
contest  for  power  with  Rome.  One  of  the  immediate  causes  of 
this  may  seem  to  have  been  the  want  of  firmness  among  her 
citizens,  which  made  them  terminate  the  first  Punic  war  by  beg- 
ging peace,  sooner  than  endure  any  longer  the  hardships  and 
burdens  caused  by  a  state  of  warfare,  although  their  antagonists 
had  suffered  far  more  severely  than  themselves.  Another  cause 
was  the  spirit  of  faction  among  their  leading  men,  which  pre- 
vented Hannibal  in  the  second  war  from  being  properly  rein- 
forced and  supported.  But  there  were  also  more  general  causes 
why  Carthage  proved  inferior  to  Rome,     These  were  her  post- 


90  BATTLE  OF  THE  METAURU8. 

tion  relatively  to  the  mass  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  country 
which  she  ruled,  and  her  habit  of  trusting  to  mercenary  armies 
in  her  wars. 

Our  clearest  information  as  to  the  different  races  of  men  in 
and  about  Carthage  is  derived  from  Diodorus  Siculus.*  That 
historian  enumerates  four  different  races  :  first,  he  mentions  the 
Phoenicians  who  dwelt  in  Carthage  ;  next,  he  speaks  of  the  Liby- 
Phoenicians — these,  he  tells  us,  dwelt  in  many  of  the  maritime 
cities,  and  were  connected  by  intermarriages  with  the  Phoeni- 
cians, which  was  the  cause  of  their  compound  name ;  thirdly,  he 
mentions  the  Libyans,  the  bulk  and  the  most  ancient  part  of  the 
population,  hating  the  Carthaginians  intensely  on  account  of 
the  oppressiveness  of  their  domination ;  lastly,  he  names  the 
Numidians,  the  nomad  tribes  of  the  frontier. 

It  is  evident,  from  this  description,  that  the  native  Libyans 
were  a  subject  class,  without  franchise  or  political  rights ;  and, 
accordingly,  we  find  no  instance  specified  in  history  of  a 
Libyan  holding  political  office  or  military  command.  The 
half-castes,  the  Liby -Phoenicians,  seem  to  have  been  some- 
times sent  out  as  colonists  ;f  but  it  may  be  inferred,  from 
what  Diodorus  says  of  their  residence,  that  they  had  not 
the  right  of  the  citizenship  of  Carthage ;  and  only  a  solitary 
case  occurs  of  one  of  this  race  being  intrusted  with  author- 
ity, and  that,  too,  not  emanating  from  the  home  government. 
This  is  the  instance  of  the  officer  sent  by  Hannibal  to  Sicily, 
after  the  fall  of  Syracuse ;  whom  Polybius  \  calls  Myttinus 
the  Libyan,  but  whom,  from  the  fuller  account  in  Livy,  we 
find  to  have  been  a  Liby-Phoenician ;  §  and  it  is  expressly 
mentioned  what  indignation  was  felt  by  the  Carthaginian 
commanders  in  the  island  that  this  half-caste  should  control 
their  operations. 

With  respect  to  the  composition  of  their  armies,  it  is  observ- 
able that,  though  thirsting  for  extended  empire,  and  though 
some  of  the  leading  men  became  generals  of  the  highest 
order,  the  Carthaginians,  as  a  people,  were  anything  but  per- 
sonally warlike.  As  long  as  they  could  hire  mercenaries  to 
fight  for  them,  they  had  little  appetite  for  the  irksome  tram- 
ing,  and  they  grudged  the  loss  of  valuable  time  which  military 
service  would  have  entailed  on  themselves. 

As  Michelet  remarks,  "  The  life  of  an  industrious  merchant, 

♦Vol.  ii.,  p.  447,  Wesseling's  ed.  fSee  the  "Periplus"  of  Hanno. 

X  Lib.  ix.,  22.  §  Lib.  xxv.,  40. 


BATTLE  OF  THE  METAURU8.  91 

of  a  Carthaginian,  was  too  precious  to  be  risked,  as  long  as  it 
was  possible  to  substitute  advantageously  for  it  that  of  a  bar- 
barian from  Spain  or  Gaul.  Carthage  knew,  and  could  tell  to 
a  drachma,  what  the  life  of  a  man  of  each  nation  came  to.  A 
Greek  was  worth  more  than  a  Campanian,  a  Campanian  worth 
more  than  a  Gaul  or  a  Spaniard.  When  once  this  tariff  of 
blood  was  correctly  made  out,  Carthage  began  a  war  as  a  mer- 
cantile speculation.  She  tried  to  make  conquests  in  the  hope 
of  getting  new  mines  to  work,  or  to  open  fresh  markets  for  her 
exports.  In  one  venture  she  could  afford  to  spend  fifty  thou- 
sand mercenaries ;  in  another,  rather  more.  If  the  returns  were 
good,  there  was  no  regret  felt  for  the  capital  that  had  been 
lavished  in  the  investment ;  more  money  got  more  men,  and  all 
went  on  well."  * 

Armies  composed  of  foreign  mercenaries  have,  in  all  ages, 
been  as  formidable  to  their  employers  as  to  the  enemy  against 
whom  they  were  directed.  We  know  of  one  occasion  (between 
the  first  and  second  Punic  wars)  when  Carthage  was  brought  to 
the  very  brink  of  destruction  by  a  revolt  of  her  foreign  troops. 
Other  mutinies  of  the  same  kind  must  from  time  to  time  have 
occurred.  Probably  one  of  these  was  the  cause  of  the  compar- 
ative weakness  of  Carthage  at  the  time  of  the  Athenian  expedi- 
tion against  Syracuse ;  so  different  from  the  energy  with  which 
she  attacked  Gelon  half  a  century  earlier,  and  Dionysius  half 
a  century  later.  And  even  when  we  consider  her  armies  with 
reference  only  to  their  efficiency  in  warfare,  we  perceive  at  once 
the  inferiority  of  such  bands  of  condottieri,  brought  together 
without  any  common  bond  of  origin,  tactics,  or  cause,  to  the 
legions  of  Rome,  which  at  the  time  of  the  Punic  wars  were 
raised  from  the  very  flower  of  a  hardy  agricultural  population, 
trained  in  the  strictest  discipline,  habituated  to  victory,  and  ani- 
mated by  the  most  resolute  patriotism.  And  this  shows  also 
the  transcendency  of  the  genius  of  Hannibal,  which  could  form 
such  discordant  materials  into  a  compact  organized  force,  and 
inspire  them  with  the  spirit  of  patient  discipline  and  loyalty  to 
their  chief ;  so  that  they  were  true  to  him  in  his  adverse  as  well 
as  in  his  prosperous  fortunes ;  and  throughout  the  checkered 
series  of  his  campaigns  no  panic  rout  ever  disgraced  a  division 
under  his  command  ;  no  mutiny,  or  even  attempt  at  mutiny,  was 
ever  known  in  his  camp ;  and,  finally,  after  fifteen  years  of  Ital- 
ian warfare,  his  men  followed  their  old  leader  to  Zama,  "  with 

*  "  Histoire  Romaine,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  40. 


92  BATTLE  OF  THE  METAURUS. 

no  fear  and  little  hope ;"  *  and  there,  on  that  disastrous  field, 
stood  firm  around  him,  his  Old  Guard,  till  Scipio's  Numidian 
allies  came  up  on  their  flank;  when  at  last,  surrounded  and 
overpowered,  the  veteran  battalions  sealed  their  devotion  to 
their  general  with  their  blood. 

"But  if  Hannibal's  genius  may  be  likened  to  the  Homeric 
god,  who,  in  his  hatred  to  the  Trojans,  rises  from  the  deep  to 
rally  the  fainting  Greeks,  and  to  lead  them  against  the  enemy, 
so  the  calm  courage  with  which  Hector  met  his  more  than  hu- 
man adversary  in  his  country's  cause  is  no  unworthy  image  of 
the  unyielding  magnanimity  displayed  by  the  aristocracy  of 
Rome.  As  Hannibal  utterly  eclipses  Carthage,  so,  on  the  con- 
trary, Fabius,  Marcellus,  Claudius  Nero,  even  Scipio  himself, 
are  as  nothing  when  compared  to  the  spirit,  and  wisdom,  and 
power  of  Rome.  The  Senate,  which  voted  its  thanks  to  its 
political  enemy,  Varro,  after  his  disastrous  defeat,  '  because  he 
had  not  despaired  of  the  commonwealth,'  and  which  disdained 
either  to  solicit,  or  to  reprove,  or  to  threaten,  or  in  any  way  to 
notice  the  twelve  colonies  which  had  refused  their  customary 
supplies  of  men  for  the  army,  is  far  more  to  be  honored  than 
the  conqueror  of  Zama.  This  we  should  the  more  carefully 
bear  in  mind,  because  our  tendency  is  to  admire  individual 
greatness  far  more  than  national ;  and,  as  no  single  Roman  will 
bear  comparison  to  Hannibal,  we  are  apt  to  murmur  at  the  event 
of  the  contest,  and  to  think  that  the  victory  was  awarded  to  the 
least  worthy  of  the  combatants.  On  the  contrary,  never  was 
the  wisdom  of  God's  providence  more  manifest  than  in  the  issue 
of  the  struggle  between  Rome  and  Carthage.  It  was  clearly  for 
the  good  of  mankind  that  Hannibal  should  be  conquered :  his 
triumph  would  have  stopped  the  progress  of  the  world.  For 
great  men  can  only  act  permanently  by  forming  great  nations ; 
and  no  one  man,  even  though  it  were  Hannibal  himself,  can  in 
one  generation  effect  such  a  work.  But  where  the  nation  has 
been  merely  enkindled  for  a  while  by  a  great  man's  spirit,  the 
light  passes  away  with  him  who  communicated  it ;  and  the  na- 
tion, when  he  is  gone,  is  like  a  dead  body,  to  which  magic  power 
had,  for  a  moment,  given  unnatural  life :  when  the  charm  has 
ceased,  the  body  is  cold  and  stiff  as  before.  He  who  grieves 
over  the  battle  of  Zama  should  carry  on  his  thoughts  to  a  period 
thirty  years  later,  when  Hannibal  must,  in  the  course  of  nature. 


♦  "  We  advanced  to  Waterloo  as  the  Greeks  did  to  Thermopylae ;  all  of 
us  without  fear,  and  most  of  us  without  hope." — Speech  of  General  Foy. 


BATTLE  OF  THE  METAURU8.  93 

have  been  dead,  and  consider  how  the  isolated  Phoenician  city 
of  Carthage  was  fitted  to  receive  and  to  consolidate  the  civiliza- 
tion of  Greece,  or  by  its  laws  and  institutions  to  bind  together 
barbarians  of  every  race  and  language  into  an  organized  empire, 
and  prepare  them  for  becoming,  when  that  empire  was  dis- 
solved, the  free  members  of  the  commonwealth  of  Christian 
Europe."* 

It  was  in  the  spring  of  207  b.c.  that  Hasdrubal,  after  skil- 
fully disentangling  himself  from  the  Roman  forces  in  Spain, 
and  after  a  march,  conducted  with  great  judgment  and  little 
loss,  through  the  interior  of  Gaul  and  the  passes  of  the  Alps, 
appeared  in  the  country  that  now  is  the  north  of  Lombardy,  at 
the  head  of  troops  which  he  had  partly  brought  out  of  Spain, 
and  partly  levied  among  the  Gauls  and  Ligurians  on  his  way. 
At  this  time  Hannibal,  with  his  unconquered,  and  seemingly 
unconquerable,  army,  had  been  eleven  years  in  Italy,  executing 
with  strenuous  ferocity  the  vow  of  hatred  to  Rome  which  had 
been  sworn  by  him  while  yet  a  child  at  the  bidding  of  his  father, 
Hamilcar ;  who,  as  he  boasted,  had  trained  up  his  three  sons, 
Hannibal,  Hasdrubal,  and  Mago,  like  three  lion's  whelps,  to  prey 
upon  the  Romans.  But  Hannibal's  latter  campaigns  had  not 
been  signalized  by  any  such  great  victories  as  marked  the  first 
years  of  his  invasion  of  Italy.  The  stern  spirit  of  Roman  reso- 
lution, ever  highest  in  disaster  and  danger,  had  neither  bent  nor 
despaired  beneath  the  merciless  blows  which  "  the  dire  African  " 
dealt  her  in  rapid  succession  at  Trebia,  at  Thrasymene,  and  at 
Cannae.  Her  population  was  thinned  by  repeated  slaughter  in 
the  field ;  poverty  and  actual  scarcity  wore  down  the  survivors, 
through  the  fearful  ravages  which  Hannibal's  cavalry  spread 
through  their  corn-fields,  their  pasture-lands,  and  their  vineyards ; 
many  of  her  allies  went  over  to  the  invader's  side ;  and  new 
clouds  of  foreign  war  threatened  her  from  Macedonia  and  Gaul. 
But  Rome  receded  not.  Rich  and  poor  among  her  citizens  vied 
with  each  other  in  devotion  to  their  country.  The  wealthy 
placed  their  stores,  and  all  placed  their  lives,  at  the  state's  dis- 
posal. And  though  Hannibal  could  not  be  driven  out  of  Italy, 
though  every  year  brought  its  sufferings  and  sacrifices,  Rome 
felt  that  her  constancy  had  not  been  exerted  in  vain.  If  she 
was  weakened  by  the  continual  strife,  so  was  Hannibal  also ;  and 

*  Arnold,  vol.  iii.,  p.  61.  The  above  is  one  of  the  numerous  bursts  of  elo- 
quence that  adorn  Arnold's  third  volume,  and  cause  such  deep  regret  that 
that  volume  should  have  been  the  last,  and  its  great  and  good  author  have 
been  cut  off  with  his  work  thus  incomplete. 


94  BATTLE  OF  THE  METAURU8. 

it  was  clear  that  the  unaided  resources  of  his  army  were  unequal 
to  the  task  of  her  destruction.  The  single  deer-hound  could 
not  pull  down  the  quarry  which  he  had  so  furiously  assailed. 
Rome  not  only  stood  fiercely  at  bay,  but  had  pressed  back  and 
gored  her  antagonist,  that  still,  however,  watched  her  in  act  to 
spring.  She  was  weary,  and  bleeding  at  every  pore  ;  and  there 
seemed  to  be  little  hope  of  her  escape,  if  the  other  hound  of  old 
Hamilcar's  race  should  come  up  in  time  to  aid  his  brother  in 
the  death-grapple. 

Hasdrubal  had  commanded  the  Carthaginian  armies  in  Spain 
for  some  time,  with  varying  but  generally  unpropitious  fortune. 
He  had  not  the  full  authority  over  the  Punic  forces  in  that  coun- 
try which  his  brother  and  his  father  had  previously  exercised. 
The  faction  at  Carthage,  which  was  at  feud  with  his  family, 
succeeded  in  fettering  and  interfering  with  his  power ;  and  other 
generals  were  from  time  to  time  sent  into  Spain,  whose  errors 
and  misconduct  caused  the  reverses  that  Hasdrubal  met  with. 
This  is  expressly  attested  by  the  Greek  historian  Polybius,  who 
was  the  intimate  friend  of  the  younger  Africanus,  and  drew  his 
information  respecting  the  second  Punic  war  from  the  best  pos- 
sible authorities.  Livy  gives  a  long  narrative  of  campaigns  be- 
tween the  Roman  commanders  in  Spain  and  Hasdrubal,  which 
is  so  palpably  deformed  by  fictions  and  exaggerations  as  to  be 
hardly  deserving  of  attention.* 

It  is  clear  that  in  the  year  208  b.c,  at  least,  Hasdrubal  out- 
manoeuvred Publius  Scipio,  who  held  the  command  of  the  Roman 
forces  in  Spain ;  and  whose  object  was  to  prevent  him  from 
passing  the  Pyrenees  and  marching  upon  Italy.  Scipio  expected 
that  Hasdrubal  would  attempt  the  nearest  route,  along  the  coast 
of  the  Mediterranean ;  and  he  therefore  carefully  fortified  and 
guarded  the  passes  of  the  eastern  Pyrenees.  But  Hasdrubal 
passed  these  mountains  near  their  western  extremity  ;  and  then, 
with  a  considerable  force  of  Spanish  infantry,  with  a  small  num- 
ber of  African  troops,  with  some  elephants  and  much  treasure,  he 
marched,  not  directly  towards  the  coast  of  the  Mediterranean,  but 
in  a  northeastern  line  towards  the  centre  of  Gaul.  He  halted  for 
the  winter  in  the  territory  of  the  Arverni,  the  modern  Auvergne ; 
and  conciliated  or  purchased  the  good-will  of  the  Gauls  in  that 
region  so  far  that  he  not  only  found  friendly  winter-quarters 
among  them,  but  great  numbers  of  them  enlisted  under  him, 


*  See  the  excellent  criticisms  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  on  this,  in  his  "  Hi«- 
torie  of  the  World,"  book  v.,  chap,  iii.,  sec.  11. 


BATTLE  OF  THE  METAURU8.  95 

and  on  the  approach  of  spring  marched  with  him  to  invade 
Italy. 

By  thus  entering  Gaul  at  the  southwest,  and  avoiding  its 
southern  maritime  districts,  Hasdrubal  kept  the  Romans  in  com- 
plete ignorance  of  his  precise  operations  and  movements  in  that 
country.  All  that  they  knew  was  that  Hasdrubal  had  baffled 
Scipio's  attempts  to  keep  him  in  Spain  ;  that  he  had  crossed  the 
Pyrenees  with  soldiers,  elephants,  and  money,  and  that  he  was 
raising  fresh  forces  among  the  Gauls.  The  spring  was  sure  to 
bring  him  into  Italy;  and  then  would  come  the  real  tempest  of 
the  war,  when  from  the  north  and  from  the  south  the  two  Cartha- 
ginian armies,  each  under  a  son  of  the  Thunderbolt,*  were  to 
gather  together  around  the  seven  hills  of  Rome. 

In  this  emergency  the  Romans  looked  among  themselves 
earnestly  and  anxiously  for  leaders  fit  to  meet  the  perils  of  the 
coming  campaign. 

The  senate  recommended  the  people  to  elect  as  one  of  their 
consuls  Caius  Claudius  Nero,  a  patrician  of  one  of  the  families 
of  the  great  Claudian  house.  Nero  had  served  during  the  pre- 
ceding years  of  the  war,  both  against  Hannibal  in  Italy  and 
against  Hasdrubal  in  Spain ;  but  it  is  remarkable  that  the  his- 
tories which  we  possess  record  no  successes  as  having  been 
achieved  by  him  either  before  or  after  his  great  campaign  of  the 
Metaurus.  It  proves  much  for  the  sagacity  of  the  leading  men 
of  the  senate  that  they  recognized  in  Nero  the  energy  and  spirit 
which  were  required  at  this  crisis,  and  it  is  equally  creditable 
to  the  patriotism  of  the  people  that  they  followed  the  advice  of 
the  senate  by  electing  a  general  who  had  no  showy  exploits  to 
recommend  him  to  their  choice. 

It  was  a  matter  of  greater  difficulty  to  find  a  second  consul. 
The  laws  required  that  one  consul  should  be  a  plebeian ;  and 
the  plebeian  nobility  had  been  fearfully  thinned  by  the  events 
of  the  war.  While  the  senators  anxiously  deliberated  among 
themselves  what  fit  colleague  for  Nero  could  be  nominated 
at  the  coming  comitia,  and  sorrowfully  recalled  the  names  of 
Marcellus,  Gracchus,  and  other  plebeian  generals  who  were  no 
more,  one  taciturn  and  moody  old  man  sat  in  sullen  apathy 
among  the  conscript  fathers.  This  was  Marcus  Livius,  who 
had  been  consul  in  the  year  before  the  beginning  of  this  war, 
and  had  then  gained  a  victory  over  the  Illyrians.     After  his 

*  Hamilcar  was  suraamed  Barca,  which  means  the  Thunderbolt.  Sultan 
Bajazet  had  the  similar  surname  of  Yilderim. 


96  BATTLE   OF  THE  METAURU8. 

consulsliip  he  had  been  impeached  before  the  people  on  a 
charge  of  peculation  and  unfair  division  of  the  spoils  among  hie 
soldiers.  The  verdict  was  unjustly  given  against  him  ;  and  the 
sense  of  this  wrong,  and  of  the  indignity  thus  put  upon  him, 
had  rankled  unceasingly  in  the  bosom  of  Livius,  so  that  for 
eight  years  after  his  trial  he  had  lived  in  seclusion  at  his  coun- 
try seat,  taking  no  part  in  any  affairs  of  state.  Latterly  the 
censors  had  compelled  him  to  come  to  Rome  and  resume  his 
place  in  the  senate,  where  he  used  to  sit  gloomily  apart,  giving 
only  a  silent  vote.  At  last  an  unjust  accusation  against  one  of 
his  near  kinsmen  made  him  break  silence ;  and  he  harangued 
the  house  in  words  of  weight  and  sense,  which  drew  attention 
to  him,  and  taught  the  senators  that  a  strong  spirit  dwelt  be- 
neath that  unimposing  exterior.  Now,  while  they  were  debat- 
ing on  what  noble  of  a  plebeian  house  was  fit  to  assume  the 
perilous  honors  of  the  consulate,  some  of  the  elder  of  them 
looked  on  Marcus  Livius,  and  remembered  that  in  the  very  last 
triumph  which  had  been  celebrated  in  the  streets  of  Rome  this 
grim  old  man  had  sat  in  the  car  of  victory ;  and  that  he  had 
offered  the  last  grand  thanksgiving  sacrifice  for  the  success  of 
the  Roman  arms  that  had  bled  before  Capitoline  Jove.  There 
had  been  no  triumphs  since  Hannibal  came  into  Italy.*  The 
Illyrian  campaign  of  Livius  was  the  last  that  had  been  so  hon- 
ored ;  perhaps  it  might  be  destined  for  him  now  to  renew 
the  long-interrupted  series.  The  senators  resolved  that  Livius 
should  be  put  in  nomination  as .  consul  with  Nero  ;  the  people 
were  willing  to  elect  him ;  the  only  opposition  came  from  him- 
self. He  taunted  them  with  their  inconsistency  in  honoring  a 
man  they  had  convicted  of  a  base  crime.  "  If  I  am  innocent," 
said  he,  "  why  did  you  place  such  a  stain  on  me  ?  If  I  am 
guilty,  why  am  I  more  fit  for  a  second  consulship  than  I  was 
for  my  first  one  ?"  The  other  senators  remonstrated  with  him, 
urging  the  example  of  the  great  Camillus,  who,  after  an  unjust 
condemnation  on  a  similar  charge,  both  served  and  saved  his 
country.  At  last  Livius  ceased  to  object ;  and  Caius  Claudius 
Nero  and  Marcus  Livius  were  chosen  consuls  of  Rome. 

A  quarrel  had  long  existed  between  the  two  consuls,  and  the 
senators  strove  to  effect  a  reconciliation  between  them  before 
the  campaign.  Here  again  Livius  for  a  long  time  obstinately 
resisted  the  wish  of  his  fellow-senators.     He  said  it  was  best 


*  Marcellus  had  been  only  allowed  an  ovation  for  the  conquest  of  Syra- 
cuse. 


BATTLE  OF  THE  METAURU8.  97 

for  the  state  that  he  and  Nero  should  continuev  to  hate  one  an- 
other. Each  would  do  his  duty  better  when  he  knew  that  he 
was  watched  by  an  enemy  in  the  person  of  his  own  colleague. 
At  last  the  entreaties  of  the  senators  prevailed,  and  Livius  con- 
sented to  forego  the  feud,  and  to  co-operate  with  Nero  in  pre- 
paring for  the  coming  struggle. 

As  soon  as  the  winter  snows  were  thawed,  Hasdrubal  com- 
menced his  march  from  Auvergne  to  the  Alps.  He  experienced 
none  of  the  difficulties  which  his  brother  had  met  with  from  the 
mountain  tribes.  Hannibal's  army  had  been  the  first  body  of 
regular  troops  that  had  ever  traversed  the  regions ;  and,  as  wild 
animals  assail  a  traveller,  the  natives  rose  against  it  instinctively, 
in  imagined  defence  of  their  own  habitations,  which  they  sup- 
posed to  be  the  objects  of  Carthaginian  ambition.  But  the 
fame  of  the  war  with  which  Italy  had  now  been  convulsed  for 
eleven  years  had  penetrated  into  the  Alpine  passes ;  and  the 
mountaineers  understood  that  a  mighty  city,  southward  of  the 
Alps,  was  to  be  attacked  by  the  troops  whom  they  saw  march- 
ing among  them.  They  not  only  opposed  no  resistance  to  the 
passage  of  Hasdrubal,  but  many  of  them,  out  of  the  love  of  en- 
terprise and  plunder,  or  allured  by  the  high  pay  that  he  offered, 
took  service  with  him ;  and  thus  he  advanced  upon  Italy  with 
an  army  that  gathered  strength  at  every  league.  It  is  said, 
also,  that  some  of  the  most  important  engineering  works  which 
Hannibal  had  constructed  were  found  by  Hasdrubal  still  in  ex- 
istence, and  materially  favored  the  speed  of  his  advance.  He 
thus  emerged  into  Italy  from  the  Alpine  valleys  much  sooner 
than  had  been  anticipated.  Many  warriors  of  the  Ligurian 
tribes  joined  him;  and,  crossing  the  river  Po,  he  marched 
down  its  southern  bank  to  the  city  of  Placentia,  which  he 
wished  to  secure  as  a  base  for  future  operations.  Placentia 
resisted  him  as  bravely  as  it  had  resisted  Hannibal  eleven  years 
before ;  and  for  some  time  Hasdrubal  was  occupied  with  a 
fruitless  siege  before  its  walls. 

Six  armies  were  levied  for  the  defence  of  Italy  when  the  long- 
dreaded  approach  of  Hasdrubal  was  announced.  Seventy  thou- 
sand Romans  served  in  the  fifteen  legions  of  which,  with  an 
equal  number  of  Italian  allies,  those  armies  and  the  garrisons 
were  composed.  Upwards  of  thirty  thousand  more  Romans  were 
serving  in  Sicily,  Sardinia,  and  Spain.  The  whole  number  of 
Roman  citizens  of  an  age  fit  for  military  duty  scarcely  exceeded 
a  hundred  and  thirty  thousand.  The  cenfeus  taken  before  the 
war  had  shown  a  total  of  two  hundred  and  seventy  thousand, 


08  BATTLE  OF  TBE  METAVltVS. 

which  had  been  diminished  by  more  than  half  during  twelve 
years.  These  numbers  are  fearfully  emphatic  of  the  extremity 
to  which  Rome  was  reduced,  and  of  her  gigantic  efforts  in  that 
great  agony  of  her  fate.  Not  merely  men,  but  money  and 
military  stores  were  drained  to  the  utmost ;  and  if  the  armies 
of  that  year  should  be  swept  off  by  a  repetition  of  the  slaugh- 
ters of  Thrasymene  and  Cannae,  all  felt  that  Rome  would  cease 
to  exist.  Even  if  the  campaign  were  to  be  marked  by  no  de- 
cisive success  on  either  side,  her  ruin  seemed  certain.  In 
South  Italy,  Hannibal  had  either  detached  Rome's  allies  from 
her,  or  had  impoverished  them  by  the  ravages  of  his  army.  If 
Hasdrubal  could  have  done  the  same  in  Upper  Italy,  if  Etruria, 
Umbria,  and  Northern  Latium  had  either  revolted  or  been  laid 
waste,  Rome  must  have  sunk  beneath  sheer  starvation ;  for  the 
hostile  or  desolated  territory  would  have  yielded  no  supplies  of 
corn  for  her  population ;  and  money,  to  purchase  it  from 
abroad,  there  was  none.  Instant  victory  was  a  matter  of  life 
and  death.  Three  of  her  six  armies  were  ordered  to  the  north, 
but  the  first  of  these  was  required  to  overawe  the  disaffected 
Etruscans.  The  second  army  of  the  north  was  pushed  forward, 
under  Porcius,  the  praetor,  to  meet  and  keep  in  check  the  ad- 
vanced troops  of  Hasdrubal ;  while  the  third,  the  grand  army 
of  the  north,  which  was  to  be  under  the  immediate  command  of 
the  consul  Livius,  who  had  the  chief  command  in  all  North 
Italy,  advanced  more  slowly  in  its  support.  There  were  sim- 
ilarly three  armies  in  the  south,  under  the  orders  of  the  other 
consul,  Claudius  Nero. 

The  lot  had  decided  that  Livius  was  to  be  opposed  to  Has- 
drubal, and  that  Nero  should  face  Hannibal.  And  "  when  all 
was  ordered  as  themselves  thought  best,  the  two  consuls  went 
forth  of  the  city,  each  his  several  way.  The  people  of  Rome 
were  now  quite  otherwise  affected  than  they  had  been  when  L. 
-^milius  Paulus  and  C.  Terentius  Varro  were  sent  against  Hanni- 
bal. They  did  no  longer  take  upon  them  to  direct  their  generals, 
or  bid  them  despatch,  and  win  the  victory  betimes ;  but  rather 
they  stood  in  fear  lest  all  diligence,  wisdom,  and  valor  should 
prove  too  little.  For  since  few  years  had  passed  wherein  some 
one  of  their  generals  had  not  been  slain,  and  since  it  was  mani- 
fest that  if  either  of  these  present  consuls  were  defeated  or  put 
to  the  worst,  the  two  Carthaginians  would  forthwith  join  and 
make  short  work  with  the  other,  it  seemed  a  greater  happiness 
than  could  be  expected  that  each  of  them  should  return  home 
victor,  and  come  off  with  honor  from  such  mighty  opposition 


BATTLE  OF  THE  METAURU8.  99 

as  he  was  like  to  find.  With  extreme  diflSculty  had  Rome  held 
up  her  head  ever  since  the  battle  of  Cannae ;  though  it  were  so 
that  Hannibal  alone,  with  little  help  from  Carthage,  had  contin- 
ued the  war  in  Italy.  But  there  was  now  arrived  another  son 
of  Amilcar ;  and  one  that,  in  his  present  expedition,  had  seemed 
a  man  of  more  sufficiency  than  Hannibal  himself.  For,  whereas 
in  that  long  and  dangerous  march  through  barbarous  nations, 
over  great  rivers  and  mountains  that  were  thought  unpassable, 
Hannibal  had  lost  a  great  part  of  his  army,  this  Asdrubal,  in 
the  same  places,  had  multiplied  his  numbers ;  and,  gathering  the 
people  that  he  found  in  the  way,  descended  from  the  Alps  like 
a  rolling  snow-ball,  far  greater  than  he  came  over  the  Pyrenees 
at  his  first  setting  out  of  Spain.  These  considerations,  and  the 
like,  of  which  fear  presented  many  unto  them,  caused  the  people 
of  Rome  to  wait  upon  their  consuls  out  of  the  town,  like  a  pen- 
sive train  of  mourners ;  thinking  upon  Marcellus  and  Crispinus, 
upon  whom,  in  the  like  sort,  they  had  given  attendance  the  last 
year,  but  saw  neither  of  them  return  alive  from  a  less  dangerous 
war.  Particularly  old  Q.  Fabius  gave  his  accustomed  advice  to 
M.  Livius,  that  he  should  abstain  from  giving  or  taking  battle, 
until  he  well  understood  the  enemies'  condition.  But  the  con- 
sul made  him  a  froward  answer,  and  said  that  he  would  fight 
the  very  first  day,  for  that  he  thought  it  long  till  he  should 
either  recover  his  honor  by  victory,  or,  by  seeing  the  overthrow 
of  his  own  unjust  citizens,  satisfy  himself  with  the  joy  of  a 
great,  though  not  an  honest,  revenge.  But  his  meaning  was 
better  than  his  words."  * 

Hannibal  at  this  period  occupied  with  his  veteran  but  much- 
reduced  forces  the  extreme  south  of  Italy.  It  had  not  been  ex- 
pected either  by  friend  or  foe  that  Hasdrubal  would  effect  his 
passage  of  the  Alps  so  early  in  the  year  as  actually  occurred. 
And  even  when  Hannibal  learned  that  his  brother  was  in  Italy, 
and  had  advanced  as  far  as  Placentia,  he  was  obliged  to  pause 
for  further  intelligence,  before  he  himself  commenced  active 
operations,  as  he  could  not  tell  whether  his  brother  might  not 
be  invited  into  Etruria,  to  aid  the  party  there  that  was  disaffect- 
ed to  Rome,  or  whether  he  would  march  down  by  the  Adriatic 
Sea.  Hannibal  led  his  troops  out  of  their  winter-quarters  in 
Bruttium,  and  marched  northward  as  far  as  Canusium.  Nero 
had  his  headquarters  near  Venusia,  with  an  army  which  he  had 
increased  to  forty  thousand  foot  and  two  thousand  five  hundred 

*  Sir  Walter  Raleigh. 


100  BATTLE  OF  THE  METAUJiUJa. 

horse,  by  incorporating  under  his  own  command  some  of  the 
legions  which  had  been  intended  to  act  under  other  generals  in 
the  south.  There  was  another  Roman  army  twenty  thousand 
strong,  south  of  Hannibal,  at  Tarentum.  The  strength  of  that 
city  secured  this  Roman  force  from  any  attack  by  Hannibal, 
and  it  was  a  serious  matter  to  march  northward  and  leave  it  in 
his  rear,  free  to  act  against  all  his  depots  and  allies  in  the  friend- 
ly part  of  Italy,  which  for  the  last  two  or  three  campaigns  had 
served  him  for  a  base  of  his  operations.  Moreover,  Nero's  army 
was  so  strong  that  Hannibal  could  not  concentrate  troops  enough 
to  assume  the  offensive  against  it  without  weakening  his  gar- 
risons, and  relinquishing,  at  least  for  a  time,  his  grasp  upon  the 
southern  provinces.  To  do  this  before  he  was  certainly  informed 
of  his  brother's  operations  would  have  been  a  useless  sacrifice  ;  as 
Nero  could  retreat  before  him  upon  the  other  Roman  armies  near 
the  capital,  and  Hannibal  knew  by  experience  that  a  mere  advance 
of  his  army  upon  the  walls  of  Rome  would  have  no  effect  on  the 
fortunes  of  the  war.  In  the  hope,  probably,  of  inducing  Nero  to 
follow  him,  and  of  gaining  an  opportunity  of  out-manoeuvring  the 
Roman  consul  and  attacking  him  on  his  march,  Hannibal  moved 
into  Lucania,  and  then  back  into  Apulia;  he  again  marched 
down  into  Bruttium,  and  strengthened  his  army  by  a  levy  of 
recruits  in  that  district.  Nero  followed  him,  but  gave  him  no 
chance  of  assailing  him  at  a  disadvantage.  Some  partial  en- 
counters seem  to  have  taken  place ;  but  the  consul  could  not 
prevent  Hannibal's  junction  with  his  Bruttian  levies,  nor  could 
Hannibal  gain  an  opportunity  of  surprising  and  crushing  the 
consul.*     Hannibal   returned   to   his   former  headquarters  at 

*  The  annalists  whom  Livy  copied  spoke  of  Nero's  gaining  repeated  vic- 
tories over  Hannibal,  and  killing  and  taking  his  men  by  tens  of  thousands. 
The  falsehood  of  all  this  is  self-evident.  If  Nero  could  thus  always  beat 
Hannibal,  the  Romans  would  not  have  been  in  such  an  agony  of  dread 
about  Hasdrubal  as  all  writers  describe.  Indeed,  we  have  the  express  tes- 
timony of  Polybius  that  such  statements  as  we  read  in  Livy  of  Marcellus, 
Nero,  and  others  gaining  victories  over  Hannibal  in  Italy  must  be  all  fab- 
rications of  Roman  vanity.  Polybius  states  (lib.  xv.,  sec.  16)  that  Hanni- 
bal was  never  defeated  before  the  battle  of  Zama ;  and  in  another  passage 
(book  ix.,  chap.  3)  he  mentions  that  after  the  defeats  which  Hannibal 
inflicted  on  the  Romans  in  the  early  years  of  the  war,  they  no  longer 
dared  face  his  army  in  a  pitched  battle  on  a  fair  field,  and  yet  they  reso- 
lutely maintained  the  war.  He  rightly  explains  this  by  referring  to  the 
superiority  of  Hannibal's  cavalry,  the  arm  which  gained  him  all  his  vic- 
tories. By  keeping  within  fortified  lines,  or  close  to  the  sides  of  the  moun- 
tains when  Hannibal  approached  them,  the  Romans  rendered  his  cavalry 
ineffective ;  and  a  glance  at  the  geography  of  Italy  will  show  how  an  army 


BATTLE  OF  THE  METAtlRlIS.  ' '      ^^l 

Canusium,  and  halted  there  in  expectation  of  further  tidings  of 
his  brother's  movements.  Nero  also  resumed  his  former  posi- 
tion in  observation  of  the  Carthaginian  array. 

Meanwhile,  Hasdrubal  had  raised  the  siege  of  Placentia,  and 
was  advancing  towards  Ariminum  on  the  Adriatic,  and  driving 
before  him  the  Roman  army  under  Porcius.  Nor  when  the  con- 
sul Livius  had  come  up,  and  united  the  second  and  third  armies 
of  the  north,  could  he  make  head  against  the  invaders.  The 
Romans  still  fell  back  before  Hasdrubal,  beyond  Ariminum,  be- 


yond the  Metaurus,  and  as  far  as  the  little  town  of  Sena,  to  the 
southeast  of  that  river.  Hasdrubal  was  not  unmindful  of  the 
necessity  of  acting  in  concert  with  his  brother.  He  sent  mes- 
sengers to  Hannibal  to  announce  his  own  line  of  march,  and  to 
propose  that  they  should  unite  their  armies  in  South  Umbria, 
and  then  wheel  round  against  Rome.  Those  messengers  trav- 
ersed the  greater  part  of  Italy  in  safety ;  but,  when  close  to  the 
object  of  their  mission,  were  captured  by  a  Roman  detachment ; 
and  Hasdrubal's  letter,  detailing  his  whole  plan  of  the  campaign, 

can  traverse  the  greater  part  of  that  country  without  venturing  far  from  the 
high  grounds. 


io$-  '^:('/11'BAt^lV'0f  the  metaurus. 

was  laid,  not  in  his  brother's  hands,  but  in  those  of  the  com- 
mander of  the  Roman  armies  of  the  south.  Nero  saw  at  once 
the  full  importance  of  the  crisis.  The  two  sons  of  Hamilcar 
were  now  within  two  hundred  miles  of  each  other,  and  if  Rome 
were  to  be  saved,  the  brothers  must  never  meet  alive.  Nero  in- 
stantly ordered  seven  thousand  picked  men,  a  thousand  being 
cavalry,  to  hold  themselves  in  readiness  for  a  secret  expedition 
against  one  of  Hannibal's  garrisons ;  and  as  soon  as  night  had 
set  in,  he  hurried  forward  on  his  bold  enterprise ;  but  he  quick- 
ly left  the  southern  road  towards  Lucania,  and,  wheeling  round, 
pressed  northward  with  the  utmost  rapidity  towards  Picenum. 
He  had  during  the  preceding  afternoon  sent  messengers  to 
Rome,  who  were  to  lay  Hasdrubal's  letters  before  the  senate. 
There  was  a  law  forbidding  a  consul  to  make  war  or  to  march 
his  army  beyond  the  limits  of  the  province  assigned  to  him  ;  but 
in  such  an  emergency  Nero  did  not  wait  for  the  permission  of 
the  senate  to  execute  his  project,  but  informed  them  that  he  was 
already  on  his  march  to  join  Livius  against  Hasdrubal.  He  ad- 
vised them  to  send  the  two  legions  which  formed  the  home  gar- 
rison on  to  Narnia,  so  as  to  defend  that  pass  of  the  Flaminian 
road  against  Hasdrubal,  in  case  he  should  march  upon  Rome  be- 
fore the  consular  armies  could  attack  him.  They  were  to  supply 
the  place  of  these  two  legions  at  Rome  by  a  levy  en  masse  in  the 
city,  and  by  ordering  up  the  reserve  legion  from  Capua.  These 
were  his  communications  to  the  senate.  He  also  sent  horsemen 
forward  along  his  line  of  march,  with  orders  to  the  local  author- 
ities to  bring  stores  of  provisions  and  refreshments  of  every 
kind  to  the  roadside,  and  to  have  relays  of  carriages  ready  for 
the  conveyance  of  the  wearied  soldiers.  Such  were  the  precau- 
tions which  he  took  for  accelerating  his  march ;  and  when  he 
had  advanced  some  little  distance  from  his  camp,  he  briefly  in- 
formed his  soldiers  of  the  real  object  of  their  expedition.  He 
told  them  that  there  never  was  a  design  more  seemingly  auda- 
cious, and  more  really  safe.  He  said  he  was  leading  them  to  a 
certain  victory,  for  his  colleague  had  an  array  large  enough  to 
balance  the  enemy  already,  so  that  their  swords  would  decisively 
turn  the  scale.  The  very  rumor  that  a  fresh  consul  and  a  fresh 
army  had  come  up,  when  heard  on  the  battle-field  ^and  he  would 
take  care  that  they  should  not  be  heard  of  before  tney  were  seen 
and  felt),  would  settle  the  campaign.  They  would  have  all  the 
credit  of  the  victory,  and  of  having  dealt  the  final  decisive  blow. 
He  appealed  to  the  enthusiastic  reception  which  they  had  already 
met  with  on  their  line  of  march  as  a  proof  and  an  omen  of  their 


BATTLE  OF  THE  METAURUS.  103 

good  fortune,*  And,  indeed,  their  whole  path  was  amid  the 
vows  and  prayers  and  praises  of  their  countrymen.  The  entire 
population  of  the  districts  through  which  they  passed  flocked 
to  the  roadside  to  see  and  bless  the  deliverers  of  their  country. 
Food,  drink,  and  refreshments  of  every  kind  were  eagerly  pressed 
on  their  acceptance.  Each  peasant  thought  a  favor  was  conferred 
on  him  if  one  of  Nero's  chosen  band  would  accept  aught  at  his 
hands.  The  soldiers  caught  the  full  spirit  of  their  leader.  Night 
and  day  they  marched  forward,  taking  their  hurried  meals  in  the 
ranks,  and  resting  by  relays  in  the  wagons  which  the  zeal  of  the 
country-people  provided,  and  which  followed  in  the  rear  of  the 
column. 

Meanwhile,  at  Rome,  the  news  of  Nero's  expedition  had  caused 
the  greatest  excitement  and  alarm.  All  men  felt  the  full  audac- 
ity of  the  enterprise,  but  hesitated  what  epithet  to  apply  to  it. 
It  was  evident  that  Nero's  conduct  would  be  judged  of  by  the 
event — that  most  unfair  criterion,  as  the  Roman  historian  truly 
terms  it.f  People  reasoned  on  the  perilous  state  in  which  Nero 
had  left  the  rest  of  his  army,  without  a  general,  and  deprived  of 
the  core  of  its  strength,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  terrible  Hannibal. 
They  speculated  on  how  long  it  would  take  Hannibal  to  pursue 
and  overtake  Nero  himself  and  his  expeditionary  force.  They 
talked  over  the  former  disasters  of  the  war,  and  the  fall  of  both 
the  consuls  of  the  last  year.  All  these  calamities  had  come  on 
them  while  they  had  only  one  Carthaginian  general  and  army  to 
deal  with  in  Italy.  Now  they  had  two  Punic  wars  at  one  time. 
They  had  two  Carthaginian  armies ;  they  had  almost  two  Han- 
nibals  in  Italy.  Hasdrubal  was  sprung  from  the  same  father ; 
trained  up  in  the  same  hostility  to  Rome ;  equally  practised  in 
battle  against  its  legions ;  and,  if  the  comparative  speed  and  suc- 
cess with  which  he  had  crossed  the  Alps  was  a  fair  test,  he  was 
even  a  better  general  than  his  brother.  With  fear  for  their  in- 
terpreter of  every  rumor,  they  exaggerated  the  strength  of  their 
enemy's  forces  in  every  quarter,  and  criticised  and  distrusted 
their  own. 

Fortunately  for  Rome,  while  she  was  thus  a  prey  to  terror  and 
anxiety,  her  consul's  nerves  were  strong,  and  he  resolutely  urged 
on  his  march  towards  Sena,  where  his  colleague,  Livius,  and  the 
praetor  Porcius  were  encamped ;  Hasdrubal's  army  being  in  posi- 


*  Livy,  lib.  xxvii.,  c.  45. 

f  "  Adparebat  (quo  nihil  iniquius  est)  ex  eventu  famam  habiturum." — 
Livy,  lib.  xxvii.,  c.  44. 


104  BATTLE  OF  THE  METAURUS. 

tion  about  half  a  mile  to  the  north.  Nero  had  sent  couriers  for- 
ward to  apprise  his  colleague  of  his  project  and  of  his  approach  ; 
and  by  the  advice  of  Livius,  Nero  so  timed  his  final  march  as  to 
reach  the  camp  at  Sena  by  night.  According  to  a  previous  ar- 
rangement, Nero's  men  were  received  silently  into  the  tents  of 
their  comrades,  each  according  to  his  rank.  By  these  means 
there  was  no  enlargement  of  the  camp  that  could  betray  to  Has- 
drubal  the  accession  of  force  which  the  Romans  had  received. 
This  was  considerable,  as  Nero's  numbers  had  been  increased 
on  the  march  by  the  volunteers,  who  offered  themselves  in  crowds, 
and  from  whom  he  selected  the  most  promising  men,  and  espe- 
cially the  veterans  of  former  campaigns.  A  council  of  war  was 
held  on  the  morning  after  his  arrival,  in  which  some  advised 
that  time  should  be  given  for  Nero's  men  to  refresh  themselves, 
after  the  fatigue  of  such  a  march.  But  Nero  vehemently  op- 
posed all  delay.  "  The  officer,"  said  he,  "  who  is  for  giving  time 
for  my  men  here  to  rest  themselves  is  for  giving  time  to  Han- 
nibal to  attack  my  men,  whom  I  have  left  in  the  camp  in  Apulia. 
He  is  for  giving  time  to  Hannibal  and  Hasdrubal  to  discover  my 
march,  and  to  manoeuvre  for  a  junction  with  each  other  in  Cisal- 
pine Gaul  at  their  leisure.  We  must  fight  instantly,  while  both 
the  foe  here  and  the  foe  in  the  south  are  ignorant  of  our  move- 
ments. We  must  destroy,  this  Hasdrubal,  and  I  must  be  back 
in  Apulia  before  Hannibal  awakes  from  his  torpor."*  Nero's 
advice  prevailed.  It  was  resolved  to  fight  directly  ;  and  before 
the  consuls  and  praetor  left  the  tent  of  Livius,  the  red  ensign, 
which  was  the  signal  to  prepare  for  immediate  action,  was  hoist- 
ed, and  the  Romans  forthwith  drew  up  in  battle  array  outside 
the  camp. 

Hasdrubal  had  been  anxious  to  bring  Livius  and  Porcius  to 
battle,  though  he  had  not  judged  it  expedient  to  attack  them  in 
their  lines.  And  now,  on  hearing  that  the  Romans  offered  bat- 
tle, he  also  drew  up  his  men,  and  advanced  towards  them.  No 
spy  or  deserter  had  informed  him  of  Nero's  arrival ;  nor  had  he 
received  any  direct  information  that  he  had  more  than  his  old 
enemies  to  deal  with.  But  as  he  rode  forward  to  reconnoitre 
the  Roman  line,  he  thought  that  their  numbers  seemed  to  have 
increased,  and  that  the  armor  of  some  of  them  was  unusually 
dull  and  stained.  He  noticed  also  that  the  horses  of  some  of 
the  cavalry  appeared  to  be  rough  and  out  of  condition,  as  if  they 
had  just  come  from  a  succession  of  forced  marches.     So  also, 

*  Livy,  lib.  xxvii.,  c.  46. 


BATTLE  OF  THE  METAURU8.  105 

though,  owing  to  the  precaution  of  Livius,  the  Roman  camp 
showed  no  change  of  size,  it  had  not  escaped  the  quick  ear  of 
the  Carthaginian  general  that  the  trumpet  which  gave  the  sig- 
nal to  the  Roman  legions  sounded  that  morning  once  oftener 
than  usual,  as  if  directing  the  troops  of  some  additional  superior 
officer.  Hasdrubal,  from  his  Spanish  campaigns,  was  well  ac- 
quainted with  all  the  sounds  and  signals  of  Roman  war;  and, 
from  all  that  he  heard  and'saw,  he  felt  convinced  that  both  the 
Roman  consuls  were  before  him.  In  doubt  and  difficulty  as  to 
what  might  have  taken  place  between  the  armies  of  the  south, 
and  probably  hoping  that  Hannibal  also  was  approaching,  Has- 
drubal determined  to  avoid  an  encounter  with  the  combined 
Roman  forces,  and  to  endeavor  to  retreat  upon  Insubrian  Gaul, 
where  he  would  be  in  a  friendly  country,  and  could  endeavor  to 
reopen  his  communications  with  his  brother.  He  therefore  led 
his  troops  back  into  their  camp ;  and,  as  the  Romans  did  not 
venture  on  an  assault  upon  his  intrenchments,  and  Hasdrubal 
did  not  choose  to  commence  his  retreat  in  their  sight,  the  day 
passed  away  in  inaction.  At  the  first  watch  of  the  night,  Has- 
drubal led  his  men  silently  out  of  their  camp,  and  moved  north- 
wards towards  the  Metaurus,  in  the  hope  of  placing  that  river 
between  himself  and  the  Romans  before  his  retreat  was  discov- 
ered. His  guides  betrayed  him  ;  and  having  purposely  led  him 
away  from  the  part  of  the  river  that  was  fordable,  they  made 
their  escape  in  the  dark,  and  left  Hasdrubal  and  his  army  wan- 
dering in  confusion  along  the  steep  bank,  and  seeking  in  vain 
for  a  spot  where  the  stream  could  be  safely  crossed.  At  last 
they  halted ;  and  when  day  dawned  on  them,  Hasdrubal  found 
that  great  numbers  of  his  men,  in  their  fatigue  and  impatience, 
had  lost  all  discipline  and  subordination,  and  that  many  of  his 
Gallic  auxiliaries  had  got  drunk,  and  were  lying  helpless  in  their 
quarters.  The  Roman  cavalry  was  soon  seen  coming  up  in  pur- 
suit, followed  at  no  great  distance  by  the  legions,  which  marched 
in  readiness  for  an  instant  engagement.  It  was  hopeless  for 
Hasdrubal  to  think  of  continuing  his  retreat  before  them.  The 
prospect  of  immediate  battle  might  recall  the  disordered  part  of 
his  troops  to  a  sense  of  duty,  and  revive  the  instinct  of  disci- 
pline. He  therefore  ordered  his  men  to  prepare  for  action  in- 
stantly, and  made  the  best  arrangement  of  them  that  the  nature 
of  the  ground  would  permit. 

Heeren  has  well  described  the  general  appearance  of  a  Cartha- 
ginian army.  He  says :  **  It  was  an  assemblage  of  the  most 
opposite  races  of  the  human  species,  from  the  farthest  parts  of 


106  BATTLE  OF  THE  METAURU8, 

the  globe.  Hordes  of  half-naked  Gauls  were  ranged  next  to 
companies  of  white-clothed  Iberians,  and  savage  Ligurians  next 
to  the  far-travelled  Nasamones  and  Lotophagi.  Carthaginians 
and  Phoenici -Africans  formed  the  centre;  while  innumerable 
troops  of  Numidian  horsemen,  taken  from  all  the  tribes  of  the 
desert,  swarmed  about  on  unsaddled  horses,  and  formed  the 
wings.  The  van  was  composed  of  Balearic  slingers ;  and  a  line 
of  colossal  elephants,  with  their  Ethiopian  guides,  formed,  as  it 
were,  a  chain  of  moving  fortresses  before  the  whole  army.'* 
Such  were  the  usual  materials  and  arrangements  of  the  hosts 
that  fought  for  Carthage ;  but  the  troops  under  Hasdrubal  were 
not  in  all  respects  thus  constituted  or  thus  stationed.  He  seems 
to  have  been  especially  deficient  in  cavalry,  and  he  had  few  Af- 
rican troops,  though  some  Carthaginians  of  high  rank  were  with 
him.  His  veteran  Spanish  infantry,  armed  with  helmets  and 
shields,  and  short  cut-and-thrust  swords,  were  the  best  part  of 
his  army.  These,  and  his  few  Africans,  he  drew  up  on  his 
right  wing,  under  his  own  personal  command.  In  the  centre  he 
placed  his  Ligurian  infantry,  and  on  the  left  wing  he  placed  or 
retained  the  Gauls,  who  were  armed  with  long  javelins  and  with 
huge  broadswords  and  targets.  The  rugged  nature  of  the  ground 
in  front  and  on  the  flank  of  this  part  of  his  line  made  him  hope 
that  the  Roman  right  wing  would  be  unable  to  come  to  close 
quarters  with  these  unserviceable  barbarians,  before  he  could 
make  some  impression  with  his  Spanish  veterans  on  the  Roman 
left.  This  was  the  only  chance  that  he  had  of  victory  or  safety, 
and  he  seems  to  have  done  everything  that  good  generalship 
could  do  to  secure  it.  He  placed  his  elephants  in  advance  of 
his  centre  and  right  wing.  He  had  caused  the  driver  of  each 
of  them  to  be  provided  with  a  sharp  iron  spike  and  a  mallet ; 
and  had  given  orders  that  every  beast  that  became  unmanage- 
able, and  ran  back  upon  his  own  ranks,  should  be  instantly 
killed,  by  driving  the  spike  into  the  vertebra  at  the  junction  of 
the  head  and  the  spine.  Hasdrubal's  elephants  were  ten  in 
number.  We  have  no  trustworthy  information  as  to  the  amount 
of  his  infantry,  but  it  is  quite  clear  that  he  was  greatly  outnum- 
bered by  the  combined  Roman  forces. 

The  tactic  of  the  Roman  legions  had  not  yet  acquired  the  per- 
fection which  it  received  from  the  military  genius  of  Marius,* 

*  Most  probably  during  the  period  of  his  prolonged  consulship,  from  B.C. 
104  to  B.C.  101,  while  he  was  training  his  army  against  the  Cimbri  and  the 
Teutons. 


BATTLli  OF  THE  METAURV8.  107 

and  which  we  read  of  in  the  first  chapter  of  Gibbon.  We  pos- 
sess in  that  great  work  an  account  of  the  Roman  legions  at  the 
end  of  the  commonwealth,  and  during  the  early  ages  of  the  em- 
pire, which  those  alone  can  adequately  admire  who  have  attempt- 
ed a  similar  description.  We  have  also,  in  the  sixth  and  seven- 
teenth books  of  Polybius,  an  elaborate  discussion  on  the  military 
system  of  the  Romans  in  his  time,  which  was  not  far  distant 
from  the  time  of  the  battle  of  the  Metaurus.  But  the  subject 
is  beset  with  difficulties ;  and  instead  of  entering  into  minute 
but  inconclusive  details,  I  would  refer  to  Gibbon's  first  chapter, 
as  serving  for  a  general  description  of  the  Roman  army  in  its 
period  of  perfection,  and  remark  that  the  training  and  armor 
which  the  whole  legion  received  in  the  time  of  Augustus  were, 
two  centuries  earlier,  only  partially  introduced.  Two  divisions 
of  troops,  called  Hastati  and  Principes,  formed  the  bulk  of  each 
Roman  legion  in  the  second  Punic  war.  Each  of  these  divisions 
was  twelve  hundred  strong.  The  Hastatus  and  the  Princeps 
legionary  bore  a  breastplate  or  coat  of  mail,  brazen  greaves,  and 
a  brazen  helmet,  with  a  lofty,  upright  crest  of  scarlet  or  black 
feathers.  He  had  a  large  oblong  shield ;  and,  as  weapons  of 
offence,  two  javelins,  one  of  which  was  light  and  slender,  but 
the  other  was  a  strong  and  massive  weapon,  with  a  shaft  about 
four  feet  long,  and  an  iron  head  of  equal  length.  The  sword 
was  carried  on  the  right  thigh,  and  was  a  short  cut-and-thrust 
weapon,  like  that  which  was  used  by  the  Spaniards.  Thus 
armed,  the  Hastati  formed  the  front  division  of  the  legion,  and 
the  Principes  the  second.  Each  division  was  drawn  up  about 
ten  deep ;  a  space  of  three  feet  being  allowed  between  the  files 
as  well  as  the  ranks,  so  as  to  give  each  legionary  ample  room 
for  the  use  of  his  javelins  and  of  his  sword  and  shield.  The 
men  in  the  second  rank  did  not  stand  immediately  behind  those 
in  the  first  rank,  but  the  files  were  alternate,  like  the  position  of 
the  men  on  a  draught-board.  This  was  termed  the  quincunx 
order.  Niebuhr  considers  that  this  arrangement  enabled  the 
legion  to  keep  up  a  shower  of  javelins  on  the  enemy  for  some 
considerable  time.  He  says  :  "  When  the  first  line  had  hurled 
its  pila,  it  probably  stepped  back  between  those  who  stood  be- 
hind it,  who  with  two  steps  forward  restored  the  front  nearly 
to  its  first  position ;  a  movement  which,  on  account  of  the  ar- 
rangement of  the  quincunx,  could  be  executed  without  losing 
a  moment.  Thus  one  line  succeeded  the  other  in  the  front 
till  it  was  time  to  draw  the  swords ;  nay,  when  it  was  found 
expedient,  the   lines    which    had   already  been  in    the   front 


108  BATTLE  OF  THE  METAURUS. 

might  repeat  this  change,  since  the  stores  of  pila  were  surely 
not  confined  to  the  two  which  each  soldier  took  with  him  into 
battle. 

"  The  same  change  must  have  taken  place  in  fighting  with 
the  sword ;  which,  when  the  same  tactic  was  adopted  on  both 
sides,  was  anything  but  a  confused  melee  ;  on  the  contrary,  it 
was  a  series  of  single  combats."  He  adds  that  a  military  man 
of  experience  had  been  consulted  by  him  on  the  subject,  and 
had  given  it  as  his  opinion  "that  the  change  of  the  lines  as 
described  above  was  by  no  means  impracticable ;  and  in  the 
absence  of  the  deafening  noise  of  gunpowder,  it  cannot  have 
had  even  any  difficulty  with  trained  troops." 

The  third  division  of  the  legion  was  six  hundred  strong,  and 
acted  as  a  reserve.  It  was  always  composed  of  veteran  sol- 
diers, who  were  called  the  Triarii.  Their  arms  were  the 
same  as  those  of  the  Principes  and  Hastati;  except  that 
each  Triarian  carried  a  spear  instead  of  javelins.  The  rest 
of  the  legion  consisted  of  light-armed  troops,  who  acted  as 
skirmishers.  The  cavalry  of  each  legion  was  at  this  period 
about  three  hundred  strong.  The  Italian  allies,  who  were  at- 
tached to  the  legion,  seem  to  have  been  similarly  armed  and 
equipped,  but  their  numerical  proportion  of  cavalry  was  much 
larger. 

Such  was  the  nature  of  the  forces  that  advanced  on  the 
Roman  side  to  the  battle  of  the  Metaurus.  Nero  commanded 
the  right  wing,  Livius  the  left,  and  the  praetor  Porcius  had  the 
command  of  the  centre.  "Both  Romans  and  Carthaginians 
well  understood  how  much  depended  upon  the  fortune  of  this 
day,  and  how  little  hope  of  safety  there  was  for  the  vanquished. 
Only  the  Romans  herein  seemed  to  have  had  the  better  in  con- 
ceit and  opinion,  that  they  were  to  fight  with  men  desirous  to 
have  fled  from  them.  And  according  to  this  presumption  came 
Livius  the  consul,  with  a  proud  bravery,  to  give  charge  on  the 
Spaniards  and  Africans,  by  whom  he  was  so  sharply  entertained 
that  victory  seemed  very  doubtful.  The  Africans  and  Span- 
iards were  stout  soldiers,  and  well  acquainted  with  the  manner 
of  the  Roman  fight.  The  Ligurians,  also,  were  a  hardy  nation, 
and  not  accustomed  to  give  ground ;  which  they  needed  the 
less,  or  were  able  now  to  do,  being  placed  in  the  midst.  Livi- 
us, therefore,  and  Porcius  found  great  opposition ;  and,  with 
great  slaughter  on  both  sides,  prevailed  little  or  nothing.  Be- 
sides other  difficulties,  they  were  exceedingly  troubled  by  the 
elephants,  that  brake  their  first  ranks,  and  put  them  in  such 


BATTLE   OF  THE  METAURUS.  109 

disorder  as  the  Roman  ensigns  were  driven  to  fall  back;  aM 
this  while  Claudius  Nero,  laboring  in  vain  against  a  steep  hill, 
was  unable  to  come  to  blows  with  the  Gauls  that  stood  opposite 
him,  but  out  of  danger.  This  made  Hasdrubal  the  more  con  • 
fident,  who,  seeing  his  own  left  wing  safe,  did  the  more  boldly 
and  fiercely  make  impression  on  the  other  side  upon  the  left 
wing  of  the  Romans."  * 

But  at  last  Nero,  who  found  that  Hasdrubal  refused  his  left 
wing,  and  who  could  not  overcome  the  difficulties  of  the  ground 
in  the  quarter  assigned  to  him,  decided  the  battle  by  another 
stroke  of  that  military  genius  which  had  inspired  his  march. 
Wheeling  a  brigade  of  his  best  men  round  the  rear  of  the  rest 
of  the  Roman  army,  Nero  fiercely  charged  the  flank  of  the 
Spaniards  and  Africans.  The  charge  was  as  successful  as  it 
was  sudden.  Rolled  back  in  disorder  upon  each  other,  and 
overwhelmed  by  numbers,  the  Spaniards  and  Ligurians  died, 
fighting  gallantly  to  the  last.  The  Gauls,  who  had  taken  little 
or  no  part  in  the  strife  of  the  day,  were  then  surrounded,  and 
butchered  almost  without  resistance.  Hasdrubal,  after  having, 
by  the  confession  of  his  enemies,  done  all  that  a  general  could 
do,  when  he  saw  that  the  victory  was  irreparably  lost,  scorning 
to  survive  the  gallant  host  which  he  had  led,  and  to  gratify,  as 
a  captive,  Roman  cruelty  and  pride,  spurred  his  horse  into  the 
midst  of  a  Roman  cohort ;  where,  sword  in  hand,  he  met  the 
death  that  was  worthy  of  the  son  of  Hamilcar  and  the  brother 
of  Hannibal. 

Success  the  most  complete  had  crowned  Nero's  enterprise. 
Returning  as  rapidly  as  he  had  advanced,  he  was  again  facing 
the  inactive  enemies  in  the  south  before  they  even  knew  of  his 
march.  But  he  brought  with  him  a  ghastly  trophy  of  what  he 
had  done.  In  the  true  spirit  of  that  savage  brutality  which  de- 
formed the  Roman  national  character,  Nero  ordered  Hasdrubal's 
head  to  be  flung  into  his  brother's  camp.  Eleven  years  had 
passed  since  Hannibal  had  last  gazed  on  those  features.  The 
sons  of  Hamilcar  had  then  planned  their  system  of  warfare 
against  Rome,  which  they  had  so  nearly  brought  to  successful 
accomplishment.  Year  after  year  had  Hannibal  been  strug- 
gling in  Italy,  in  the  hope  of  one  day  hailing  the  arrival  of  him 
whom  he  had  left  in  Spain ;  and  of  seeing  his  brother's  eye 
flash  with  affection  and  pride  at  the  junction  of  their  irresistible 
hosts.     He  now  saw  that  eye  glazed  in  death,  and,  in  the  agony 

"  Historie  of  the  World,"  by  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  p.  946. 


110  BATTLE  OF  THE   ME  TAURUS. 

of  his  heart,  the  great  Carthaginian  groaned  aloud  that  he  rec- 
ognized his  country's  destiny.* 

Rome  was  almost  delirious  with  joy  :f  so  agonizing  had  been 
the  suspense  with  which  the  battle's  verdict  on  that  great  issue 
of  a  nation's  life  and  death  had  been  awaited;  so  overpower- 
ing was  the  sudden  reaction  to  the  consciousness  of  security 
and  to  the  full  glow  of  glory  and  success.  From  the  time  when 
it  had  been  known  at  Rome  that  the  armies  were  in  presence 
of  each  other,  the  people  had  never  ceased  to  throng  the  forum, 
the  conscript  fathers  had  been  in  permanent  sitting  at  the  sen- 
ate-house. Ever  and  anon  a  fearful  whisper  crept  among  the 
crowd  of  a  second  Cannae  won  by  a  second  Hannibal.  Then 
came  truer  rumors  that  the  day  was  Rome's;  but  the  people 
were  sick  at  heart,  and  heeded  them  not.  The  shrines  were 
thronged  with  trembling  women,  who  seemed  to  weary  heaven 
with  prayers  to  shield  them  from  the  brutal  Gaul  and  the  sav- 
age African.  Presently  the  reports  of  good  fortune  assumed 
a  more  definite  form.  It  was  said  that  two  Narnian  horsemen 
had  ridden  from  the  east  into  the  Roman  camp  of  observation 
in  Umbria,  and  had  brought  tidings  of  the  utter  slaughter  of 
the  foe.  Such  news  seemed  too  good  to  be  true.  Men  tort- 
ured their  neighbors  and  themselves  by  demonstrating  its  im- 
probability and  by  ingeniously  criticising  its  evidence.  Soon, 
however,  a  letter  came  from  Lucius  Manlius  Acidinus,  who 
commanded  in  Umbria,  and  who  announced  the  arrival  of  the 
Narnian  horsemen  in  his  camp,  and  the  intelligence  which  they 
brought  thither.  The  letter  was  first  laid  before  the  senate, 
and  then  before  the  assembly  of  the  people.  The  excitement 
grew  more  and  more  vehement.  The  letter  was  read  and  re- 
read aloud  to  thousands.  It  confirmed  the  previous  rumor. 
But  even  this  was  insufficient  to  allay  the  feverish  anxiety  that 
thrilled  through  every  breast  in  Rome.  The  letter  might  be  a 
forgery :  the  Narnian  horsemen  might  be  traitors  or  impostors. 
"  We  must  see  officers  from  the  army  that  fought,  or  hear  de- 
spatches from  the  consuls  themselves,  and  then  only  will  we 
believe."  Such  was  the  public  sentiment,  though  some  of  more 
hopeful  nature  already  permitted  themselves  a  foretaste  of  joy. 
At  length  came  news  that  officers  who  really  had  been  in  the 

♦  "  Carthagini  jam  non  ego  nuntios 
Mittam  superbos.     Occidit,  occidit 
Spes  omnis  et  fortuua  nostri 
Nominis,  Hasdrubale  interemto." — Horace, 
f  See  the  splendid  description  in  Livy,  lib.  xxvii.,  sec.  50,  51. 


BATTLE  OF  THE  METAURU8.  Ill 

battle  were  near  at  hand.  Forthwith  the  whole  city  poured 
forth  to  meet  them,  each  person  coveting  to  be  the  first  to 
receive  with  his  own  eyes  and  ears  convincing  proofs  of  the 
reality  of  such  a  deliverance.  One  vast  throng  of  human  be- 
ings filled  the  road  from  Rome  to  the  Milvian  bridge.  The 
three  officers,  Lucius  Veturius  Pollio,  Publius  Licinius  Varus, 
and  Quintus  Csecilius  Metellus,  came  riding  on,  making  their 
way  slowly  through  the  living  sea  around  them.  As  they 
advanced,  each  told  the  successive  waves  of  eager  questioners 
that  Rome  was  victorious.  "We  have  destroyed  Hasdrubal 
and  his  army,  our  legions  are  safe,  and  our  consuls  are  unhurt." 
Each  happy  listener  who  caught  the  welcome  sounds  from  their 
lips  retired  to  communicate  his  own  joy  to  others,  and  became 
himself  the  centre  of  an  anxious  and  inquiring  group.  When 
the  officers  had,  with  much  difficulty,  reached  the  senate-house, 
and  the  crowd  was  with  still  greater  difficulty  put  back  from 
entering  and  mingling  with  the  conscript  fathers,  the  de- 
spatches of  Livius  and  Nero  were  produced  and  read  aloud. 
From  the  senate-house  the  officers  proceeded  to  the  public  as- 
sembly, where  the  despatches  were  read  again;  and  then  the 
senior  officer,  Lucius  Veturius,  gave  in  his  own  words  a  fuller 
detail  of  how  went  the  fight.  When  he  had  done  speaking  to 
the  people,  a  universal  shout  of  rapture  rent  the  air.  The 
vast  assembly  then  separated :  some  hastening  to  the  temples 
to  find  in  devotion  a  vent  for  the  overflowing  excitement  of 
their  hearts ;  others  seeking  their  homes  to  gladden  their  wives 
and  children  with  the  good  news,  and  to  feast  their  own  eyes 
with  the  sight  of  the  loved  ones,  who  now,  at  last,  were  safe 
from  outrage  and  slaughter.  The  senate  ordained  a  thanks- 
giving of  three  days  for  the  great  deliverance  which  had  been 
vouchsafed  to  Rome ;  and  throughout  that  period  the  temples 
were  incessantly  crowded  with  exulting  worshippers ;  and  the 
matrons,  with  their  children  round  them,  in  their  gayest  attire, 
and  with  joyous  aspects  and  voices,  offered  grateful  praises  to 
the  immortal  gods,  as  if  all  apprehension  of  evil  were  over,  and 
the  war  were  already  ended. 

With  the  revival  of  confidence  came  also  the  revival  of  ac- 
tivity in  traffic  and  commerce,  and  in  all  the  busy  intercourse 
of  daily  life.  A  numbing  load  was  taken  off  each  heart  and 
brain,  and  once  more  men  bought  and  sold,  and  formed  their 
plans  freely,  as  had  been  done  before  the  dire  Carthaginians 
came  into  Italy.  Hannibal  was,  certainly,  still  in  the  land ; 
but  all  felt  that  his  power  to  destroy  was  broken,  and  that  the 


112  BATTLE  OF  THE  ME  TAURUS. 


crisis  of  the  war-fever  was  past.  The  Metaurus,  indeed,  had 
not  only  determined  the  event  of  the  strife  between  Rome  and 
Carthage,  but  it  had  insured  to  Rome  two  centuries  more  of 
almost  unchanged  conquest.  Hannibal  did  actually,  with  al- 
most superhuman  skill,  retain  his  hold  on  Southern  Italy  for  a 
few  years  longer ;  but  the  imperial  city  and  her  allies  were  no 
longer  in  danger  from  his  arms,  and,  after  Hannibal's  down- 
fall, the  great  military  republic  of  the  ancient  world  met  in  her 
career  of  conquest  no  other  worthy  competitor.  Byron  has 
termed  Nero's  march  "unequalled,"  and  in  the  magnitude  of 
its  consequences  it  is  so.  Viewed  only  as  a  military  exploit, 
it  remains  unparalleled,  save  by  Marlborough's  bold  march 
from  Flanders  to  the  Danube,  in  the  campaign  of  Blenheim, 
and  perhaps  also  by  the  Archduke  Charles's  lateral  march  in 
1796,  by  which  he  overwhelmed  the  French  under  Jourdain, 
and  then,  driving  Moreau  through  the  Black  Forest  and  across 
the  Rhine,  for  a  while  freed  Germany  from  her  invaders. 

SYNOPSIS  OF  EVENTS  BETWEEN  THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  ME- 
TAURUS, B.C.  207,  AND  ARMINIUS'S  VICTORY  OVER  THE 
ROMAN  LEGIONS  UNDER  VARUS,  a.d.  9. 

B.C.  205  to  201.  Scipio  is  made  consul,  and  carries  the  war 
into  Africa.  He  gains  several  victories  there,  and  the  Car- 
thaginians recall  Hannibal  from  Italy  to  oppose  him.  Battle 
of  Zama  in  201 :  Hannibal  is  defeated,  and  Carthage  sues  for 
peace.  End  of  the  second  Punic  war,  leaving  Rome  confirmed 
in  the  dominion  of  Italy,  Sicily,  Sardinia,  and  Corsica,  and  also 
mistress  of  great  part  of  Spain,  and  virtually  predominant  in 
North  Africa. 

200.  Rome  makes  war  upon  Philip,  king  of  Macedonia.  She 
pretends  to  take  the  Greek  cities  of  the  Achaean  League  and 
the  ^tolians  under  her  protection  as  allies.  Philip  is  defeated 
by  the  proconsul  Flaminius  at  Cynocephalae,  198 ;  and  begs  for 
peace.  The  Macedonian  influence  is  now  completely  destroyed 
in  Greece,  and  the  Roman  established  in  its  stead,  though 
Rome  nominally  acknowledged  the  independence  of  the  Greek 
cities. 

194.  Rome  makes  war  upon  Antiochus,  king  of  Syria.  He 
is  completely  defeated  at  the  battle  of  Magnesia,  192,  and  is 
glad  to  accept  peace  on  conditions  which  leave  him  dependent 
upon  Rome. 

200  to  190.  "  Thus,  within  the  short  space  of  ten  years,  was 
laid  the  foundation  of  the  Roman  authority  in  the  East,  and 


BATTLE   OF  THE  METAURUS.  113 

the  general  state  of  affairs  entirely  changed.  If  Rome  was  not 
yet  the  ruler,  she  was  at  least  the  arbitress  of  the  world  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Euphrates.  The  power  of  the  three  principal 
states  was  so  completely  humbled  that  they  durst  not,  without 
the  permission  of  Rome,  begin  any  new  war;  the  fourth,  Egypt, 
had  already,  in  the  year  201,  placed  herself  under  the  guardian- 
ship of  Rome ;  and  the  lesser  powers  followed  of  themselves, 
esteeming  it  an  honor  to  be  called  the  allies  of  Rome.  With 
this  name  the  nations  were  lulled  into  security,  and  brought 
under  the  Roman  yoke ;  the  new  political  system  of  Rome  was 
founded  and  strengthened  partly  by  exciting  and  supporting 
the  weaker  states  against  the  stronger,  however  unjust  the  cause 
of  the  former  might  be,  and  partly  by  factions  which  she  found 
means  to  raise  in  every  state,  even  the  smallest." — (Heeren.) 

1*72.  War  renewed  between  Macedon  and  Rome.  Decisive 
defeat  of  Perses,  the  Macedonian  king,  by  Paulus  JEmilius  at 
Pydna,  168.     Destruction  of  the  Macedonian  monarchy. 

150.  Rome  oppresses  the  Carthaginians  till  they  are  driven 
to  take  up  arms,  and  the  third  Punic  war  begins.  Carthage  is 
taken  and  destroyed  by  Scipio  ^milianus,  146,  and  the  Car- 
thaginian territory  is  made  a  Roman  province. 

146.  In  the  same  year  in  which  Carthage  falls,  Corinth  is 
stormed  by  the  Roman  army  under  Mummius.  The  Achaean 
League  had  been  goaded  into  hostilities  with  Rome  by  means 
similar  to  those  employed  against  Carthage.  The  greater  part 
of  Southern  Greece  is  made  a  Roman  province,  under  the  name 
of  Achaia. 

133.  Numantium  is  destroyed  by  Scipio  ^milianus.  "The 
war  against  the  Spaniards,  who,  of  all  the  nations  subdued  by 
the  Romans,  defended  their  liberty  with  the  greatest  obstinacy, 
began  in  the  year  200,  six  years  after  the  total  expulsion  of  the 
Carthaginians  from  their  country,  206.  It  was  exceedingly  ob- 
stinate, partly  from  the  natural  state  of  the  country,  which  was 
thickly  populated,  and  where  every  place  became  a  fortress; 
partly  from  the  courage  of  the  inhabitants ;  but  at  last  all,  owing 
to  the  peculiar  policy  of  the  Romans,  who  yielded  to  employ 
tbeir  allies  to  subdue  other  nations.  This  war  continued,  al- 
most without  interruption,  from  the  year  200  to  133,  and  was 
for  the  most  part  carried  on  at  the  same  time  in  Hispania 
Citerior,  where  the  Celtiberi  were  the  most  formidable  adver- 
saries, and  in  Hispania  Ulterior,  where  the  Lusitani  were  equally 
powerful.  Hostilities  were  at  the  highest  pitch  in  195,  under 
Cato,  who  reduced  Hispania  Citerior  to  a  state  of  tranquillity  in 


114  BATTLE  OF  THE  METAURU8. 

185-1 79,  when  the  Celtiberi  were  attacked  in  their  native  ter- 
ritory;  and  155-150,  when  the  Romans  in  both  provinces  were 
so  often  beaten  that  nothing  was  more  dreaded  by  the  soldiers 
at  home  than  to  be  sent  there.  The  extortions  and  perfidy  of 
Servius  Galba  placed  Viriathus,  in  the  year  146,  at  the  head  of 
his  nations,  the  Lusitani :  the  war,  however,  soon  extended  itself 
to  Hispania  Citerior,  where  many  nations,  particularly  the  Nu- 
mantines,  took  up  arms  against  Rome,  143.  Viriathus,  some- 
times victorious  and  sometimes  defeated,  was  never  more  for- 
midable than  in  the  moment  of  defeat ;  because  he  knew  how  to 
take  advantage  of  his  knowledge  of  the  country  and  of  the  dis- 
positions of  his  countrymen.  After  his  murder,  caused  by  the 
treachery  of  Ssepio,  140,  Lusitania  was  subdued;  but  the  Nu- 
mantine  war  became  still  more  violent,  and  the  Numantines 
compelled  the  consul  Mancinus  to  a  disadvantageous  treaty,  137. 
When  Scipio,  in  the  year  133,  put  an  end  to  this  war,  Spain  was 
certainly  tranquil;  the  northern  parts,  however,  were  still  un- 
subdued, though  the  Romans  penetrated  as  far  as  Galatia." — 
(Heeren.) 

134.  Commencement  of  the  revolutionary  century  at  Rome, 
i.  e.  from  the  time  of  the  excitement  produced  by  the  attempts 
made  by  the  Gracchi  to  reform  the  commonwealth  to  the  bat- 
tle of  Actium  (B.C.  31),  which  established  Octavianus  Caesar  as 
sole  master  of  the  Roman  world.  Throughout  this  period  Rome 
was  engaged  in  important  foreign  wars,  most  of  which  procured 
large  accessions  to  her  territory. 

118  to  106.  The  Jugurthine  war.  Numidia  is  conquered,  and 
made  a  Roman  province. 

113  to  101.  The  great  and  terrible  war  of  the  Cimbri  and 
Teutones  against  Rome.  These  nations  of  northern  warriors 
slaughter  several  Roman  armies  in  Gaul,  and  in  102  attempt  to 
penetrate  into  Italy.  The  military  genius  of  Marius  here  saves 
his  country;  he  defeats  the  Teutones  near  Aix,  in  Provence; 
and  in  the  following  year  he  destroys  the  army  of  the  Cimbri, 
who  had  passed  the  Alps,  near  Vercellae. 

91  to  88.  The  war  of  the  Italian  allies  against  Rome.  This 
was  caused  by  the  refusal  of  Rome  to  concede  to  them  the 
rights  of  Roman  citizenship.  After  a  sanguine  struggle,  Rome 
gradually  grants  it. 

89  to  85.  First  war  of  the  Romans  against  Mithridates  the 
Great,  king  of  Pontus,  who  had  overrun  Asia  Minor,  Macedonia, 
and  Greece.  Sylla  defeats  his  armies,  and  forces  him  to  with- 
draw his  forces  from  Europe.     Sylla  returns  to  Rome  to  carry 


BATTLE  OF  THE  METAURU8.  115 

on  the  civil  war  against  the  son  and  partisans  of  Marius.  He 
makes  himself  dictator. 

74  to  64.  The  last  Mithridatic  wars.  Lucullus,  and  after  him 
Pompeius,  command  against  the  great  King  of  Pontus,  who  at 
last  is  poisoned  by  his  son,  while  designing  to  raise  the  warlike 
tribes  of  the  Danube  against  Rome,  and  to  invade  Italy  from 
the  northeast.  Great  Asiatic  conquests  of  the  Romans.  Be- 
sides the  ancient  province  of  Pergamus,  the  maritime  countries 
of  Bithynia,  and  nearly  all  Paphlagonia  and  Pontus,  are  formed 
into  a  Roman  province,  under  the  name  of  Bithynia ;  while  on 
the  southern  coast  Cilicia  and  Pamphylia  form  another,  under 
the  name  of  Cilicia;  Phoenicia  and  Syria  compose  a  third, 
under  the  name  of  Syria.  On  the  other  hand,  Great  Armenia  is 
left  to  Tigranes,  Cappadocia  to  Ariobarzanes,  the  Bosphorus  to 
Pharnaces,  Judaea  to  Hyrcanus  ;  and  some  other  small  states  are 
also  given  to  petty  princes,  all  of  whom  remain  dependent  on 
Rome. 

58  to  50.  Ca?sar  conquers  Gaul. 

54.  Crassus  attacks  the  Parthians  with  a  Roman  army,  but 
is  overthrown  and  killed  at  Carrhae  in  Mesopotamia.  His  lieu- 
tenant Cassius  collects  the  wrecks  of  the  army,  and  prevents  the 
Parthians  from  conquering  Syria. 

49  to  45.  The  civil  war  between  Caesar  and  the  Pompeian 
party.  Ca3sar  drives  Pompeius  out  of  Italy,  conquers  his  ene- 
my's forces  in  Spain,  and  then  passes  into  Greece,  where  Pom- 
peius and  the  other  aristocratic  chiefs  had  assembled  a  large 
army.  Caesar  gives  them  a  decisive  defeat  at  the  great  battle  of 
Pharsalia.  Pompeius  flies  for  refuge  to  Alexandria,  where  he  is 
assassinated.  Caesar,  who  had  followed  him  thither,  is  involved 
in  a  war  with  the  Egyptians,  in  which  he  is  finally  victorious. 
The  celebrated  Cleopatra  is  made  queen  of  Egypt.  Caesar  next 
marches  into  Pontus,  and  defeats  the  son  of  Mithridates,  who 
had  taken  part  in  the  war  against  him.  He  then  proceeds  to 
the  Roman  province  of  Africa,  where  some  of  the  Pompeian 
chiefs  had  established  themselves,  aided  by  Juba,  a  native 
prince.  He  overthrows  them  at  the  battle  of  Thapsus.  He 
is  again  obliged  to  lead  an  army  into  Spain,  where  the  sons 
of  Pompeius  had  collected  the  wrecks  of  their  father's  party. 
He  crushes  the  last  of  his  enemies  at  the  battle  of  Munda. 
Under  the  title  of  dictator,  he  is  sole  master  of  the  Roman 
world. 

44.  Caesar  is  killed  in  the  senate-house;  the  civil  wars  are 
soon  renewed,  Brutus  and  Cassius  being  at  the  head  of  the  aris- 


116  BATTLE  OF  THE  METAURUS. 

tocratic  party,  and  the  party  of  Caesar  being  led  by  Mark  An- 
tony and  Octavianus  Caesar,  afterwards  Augustus. 

42.  Defeat  and  death  of  Brutus  and  Cassius  at  Philippi.  Dis- 
sensions soon  break  out  between  Octavianus  Caesar  and  Antony. 

31.  Antony  is  completely  defeated  by  Octavianus  Caesar  at 
Actium.  He  flies  to  Egypt  with  Cleopatra.  Octavianus  pur- 
sues him.  Antony  and  Cleopatra  kill  themselves.  Egypt  be- 
comes a  Roman  province,  and  Octavianus  Caesar  is  left  undis- 
puted master  of  Rome,  and  all  that  is  Rome's.  The  state  of  the 
Roman  world  at  this  time  is  best  described  in  two  lines  of 
Tacitus — "  Postquam  bellatum  apud  Actium,  atque  omnem  po- 
testatem  ad  unum  coiiferri  pads  interfuUy     (Hist.,  lib.  i.,  s.  1.) 

The  forty-fourth  year  of  the  reign  of  Augustus,  and  the  first 
year  of  the  195th  Olympiad,  is  commonly  assigned  as  the  date 
of  The  Nativity  of  Our  Lord.  There  is  much  of  the  beauty 
of  holiness  in  the  remarks  with  which  the  American  historian 
Eliot  closes  his  survey  of  the  conquering  career  and  civil  down- 
fall of  the  Roman  commonwealth  : 

"  So  far  as  humility  amongst  men  was  necessary  for  the  prep- 
aration of  a  truer  freedom  than  could  ever  be  known  under 
heathenism,  the  part  of  Rome,  however  -dreadful,  was  yet  sub- 
lime. It  was  not  to  unite,  to  discipline,  or  to  fortify  humanity, 
but  to  enervate,  to  loosen,  and  to  scatter  its  forces,  that  the  peo- 
ple whose  history  we  have  read  were  allowed  to  conquer  the  earth, 
and  were  then  themselves  reduced  to  deep  submission.  Every 
good  labor  of  theirs  that  failed  was,  by  reason  of  what  we  es- 
teem its  failure,  a  step  gained  nearer  to  the  end  of  the  well-nigh 
universal  evil  that  prevailed ;  while  every  bad  achievement  that 
may  seem  to  us  to  have  succeeded,  temporarily  or  lastingly,  with 
them  was  equally,  by  reason  of  its  success,  a  progress  towards 
the  good  of  which  the  coming  would  have  been  longed  and 
prayed  for,  could  it  have  been  comprehended.  Alike  in  the 
virtues  and  in  the  vices  of  antiquity,  we  may  read  the  progress 
towards  its  humiliation.*  Yet,  on  the  other  hand,  it  must  not 
seem,  at  the  last,  that  the  disposition  of  the  Romans  or  of  man- 
kind to  submission  was  secured  solely  through  the  errors  and 

♦  "  The  Christian  revelation,"  says  Leland,  in  his  truly  admirable  work  on 
the  subject  (vol.  i.,  p.  488),  "  was  made  to  the  world  at  a  time  when  it  was 
most  wanted ;  when  the  darkness  and  corruption  of  mankind  were  arrived  at 
the  height.  ...  If  it  had  been  published  much  sooner,  and  before  there  had 
been  a  full  trial  made  of  what  was  to  be  expected  from  human  wisdom  and 
philosophy,  the  great  need  men  stood  in  of  such  an  extraordinary  divine 
dispensation  would  not  have  been  so  apparent," 


BATTLE  OF  THE  METAURUS.  117 

the  apparently  ineffectual  toils  wMch  we  have  traced  back  to 
these  times  of  old.  Desires  too  true  to  have  been  wasted,  and 
strivings  too  humane  to  have  been  unproductive,  though  all 
were  overshadowed  by  passing  wrongs,  still  gleam  as  if  in  an- 
ticipation or  in  preparation  of  the  advancing  day. 

"  At  length,  when  it  had  been  proved  by  ages  of  conflict  and 
loss  that  no  lasting  joy  and  no  abiding  truth  could  be  procured 
through  the  power,  the  freedom,  or  the  faith  of  mankind,  the 
angels  sang  their  song  in  which  the  glory  of  God  and  the  good- 
will of  men  were  together  blended.  The  universe  was  wrapped 
in  momentary  tranquillity,  and  *  peaceful  was  the  night '  above 
the  manger  at  Bethlehem.  We  may  believe  that  when  the 
morning  came,  the  ignorance,  the  confusion,  and  the  servitude 
of  humanity  had  left  their  darkest  forms  amongst  the  midnight 
clouds.  It  was  still,  indeed,  beyond  the  power  of  man  to  lay 
hold  securely  of  the  charity  and  the  regeneration  that  were 
henceforth  to  be  his  law ;  and  the  indefinable  terrors  of  the 
future,  whether  seen  from  the  West  or  from  the  East,  were  not 
at  once  to  be  dispelled.  But  before  the  death  of  the  Emperor 
Augustus,  in  the  midst  of  his  fallen  subjects,  the  business  of 
The  Father  had  already  been  begun  in  the  temple  at  Jerusalem ; 
and  near  by.  The  Son  was  increasing  in  wisdom  and  in  stature, 
and  in  favor  with  God  and  man."  * 

*  Eliot's  "  Liberty  of  Rome,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  621. 


118  VICTORY  OF  ARMINIU8  OVER 


CHAPTER  V. 

VICTORY    OF    ARMINIUS    OVER    THE    ROMAN    LEGIONS    UNDER 
VARUS,   A.D.   9. 

"  Hac  clade  factum,  ut  Imperium  quod  in  littore  oceani  non  steterat,  in 
ripa  Rheni  flurainis  staret." — Floras. 

To  a  truly  illustrious  Frencliman,  whose  reverses  as  a  minister 
can  never  obscure  his  achievements  in  the  world  of  letters,  we 
are  indebted  for  the  most  profound  and  most  eloquent  estimate 
that  we  possess  of  the  importance  of  the  Germanic  element  in 
European  civilization,  and  of  the  extent  to  which  the  human 
race  is  indebted  to  those  brave  warriors,  who  long  were  the  un- 
conquered  antagonists,  and  finally  became  the  conquerors,  of 
Imperial  Rome. 

Twenty-three  eventful  years  have  passed  away  since  M.  Guizot 
delivered  from  the  chair  of  modern  history  at  Paris  his  course 
of  lectures  on  the  History  of  Civilization  in  Europe.  During 
those  years  the  spirit  of  earnest  inquiry  into  the  germs  and 
early  developments  of  existing  institutions  has  become  more 
and  more  active  and  universal ;  and  the  merited  celebrity  of  M. 
Guizot's  work  has  proportionally  increased.  Its  admirable  anal- 
ysis of  the  complex  political  and  social  organizations  of  which 
the  modern  civilized  world  is  made  up  must  have  led  thousands 
to  trace  with  keener  interest  the  great  crises  of  times  past,  by 
which  the  characteristics  of  the  present  were  determined.  The 
narrative  of  one  of  these  great  crises,  of  the  epoch  a.d.  9,  when 
Germany  took  up  arms  for  her  independence  against  Roman  in- 
vasion, has  for  us  this  special  attraction — that  it  forms  part  of 
our  own  national  history.  Had  Arminius  been  supine  or  un- 
successful, our  Germanic  ancestors  would  have  been  enslaved  or 
exterminated  in  their  original  seats  along  the  Eyder  and  the 
Elbe ;  this  island  would  never  have  borne  the  name  of  England, 
and  "we,  this  great  English  nation,  whose  race  and  language 
are  now  overrunning  the  earth,  from  one  end  of  it  to  the  oth- 
er," *  would  have  been  utterly  cut  off  from  existence. 

*  Arnold'i  "  Lectures  on  Modern  History." 


THE  ROMAN  LEGIONS  UNDER   VARUS.  119 

Arnold  may,  indeed,  go  too  far  in  holding  that  we  are  wholly 
unconnected  in  race  with  the  Romans  and  Britons  who  inhabit- 
ed this  country  before  the  coming-over  of  the  Saxons;  that, 
"  nationally  speaking,  the  history  of  Caesar's  invasion  has  no 
more  to  do  with  us  than  the  natural  history  of  the  animals  which 
then  inhabited  our  forests."  There  seems  ample  evidence  to 
prove  that  the  Romanized  Celts,  whom  our  Teutonic  forefathers 
found  here,  influenced  materially  the  character  of  our  nation. 
But  the  main  stream  of  our  people  was  and  is  Germanic.  Our 
language  alone  decisively  proves  this.  Arminius  is  far  more 
truly  one  of  our  national  heroes  than  Caractacus :  and  it  was 
our  own  primaeval  fatherland  that  the  brave  German  rescued 
when  he  slaughtered  the  Roman  legions  eighteen  centuries  ago 
in  the  marshy  glens  between  the  Lippe  and  the  Ems.* 

Dark  and  disheartening,  even  to  heroic  spirits,  must  have 
seemed  the  prospects  of  Germany  when  Arminius  planned  the 
general  rising  of  his  countrymen  against  Rome.  Half  the  land 
was  occupied  by  Roman  garrisons ;  and,  what  was  worse,  many 
of  the  Germans  seemed  patiently  acquiescent  in  their  state  of 
bondage.  The  braver  portion,  whose  patriotism  could  be  relied 
on,  was  ill-armed  and  undisciplined  ;  while  the  enemy's  troops 
consisted  of  veterans  in  the  highest  state  of  equipment  and 
training,  familiarized  with  victory,  and  commanded  by  oflBcers 
of  proved  skill  and  valor.  The  resources  of  Rome  seemed 
boundless ;  her  tenacity  of  purpose  was  believed  to  be  invin- 
cible. There  was  no  hope  of  foreign  sympathy  or  aid  ;  for  "  the 
self-governing  powers  that  had  filled  the  old  world  had  bent 
one  after  another  before  the  rising  power  of  Rome,  and  had  van- 
ished.    The  earth  seemed  left  void  of  independent  nations,  "f 

The  German  chieftain  knew  well  the  gigantic  power  of  the 
oppressor.  Arminius  was  no  rude  savage,  lighting  out  of  mere 
animal  instinct,  or  in  ignorance  of  the  might  of  his  adversary. 
He  was  familiar  with  the  Roman  language  and  civilization  ;  he 
had  served  in  the  Roman  armies ;  he  had  been  admitted  to  the 
Rom^n  citizenship,  and  raised  to  the  dignity  of  the  equestrian 
order.  It  was  part  of  the  subtle  policy  of  Rome  to  confer  rank 
and  privileges  on  the  youth  of  the  leading  families  in  the  na- 
tions which  she  wished  to  enslave.  Among  other  young  Ger- 
man chieftains,  Arminius  and  his  brother,  who  were  the  heads 
of  the  noblest  house  in  the  tribe  of  the  Cherusci,  had  been  se- 

*  See  post^  remarks  ou  the  relationship  between  the  Cherusci  and  the 
English.  f  Ranke. 


120  VICTORY  OF  ARMINIUS  OVER 

lected  as  fit  objects  for  the  exercise  of  this  insidious  system. 
Roman  refinements  and  dignities  succeeded  in  denationalizing 
the  brother,  who  assumed  the  Roman  name  of  Flavius,  and  ad- 
hered to  Rome  throughout  all  her  wars  against  his  country. 
Arminius  remained  unbought  by  honors  or  wealth,  uncorrupted 
by  refinement  or  luxury.  He  aspired  to  and  obtained  from 
Roman  enmity  a  higher  title  than  ever  could  have  been  given 
him  by  Roman  favor.  It  is  in  the  page  of  Rome's  greatest  his- 
torian that  his  name  has  come  down  to  us  with  the  proud  ad- 
dition of  "  Liberator  baud  dubie  Germanise."  * 

Often  must  the  young  chieftain,  while  meditating  the  exploit 
which  has  thus  immortalized  him,  have  anxiously  revolved  in 
his  mind  the  fate  of  the  many  great  men  who  had  been  crushed 
in  the  attempt  which  he  was  about  to  renew  —  the  attempt  to 
stay  the  chariot-wheels  of  triumphant  Rome.  Could  he  hope  to 
succeed  where  Hannibal  and  Mithridates  had  perished  ?  What 
had  been  the  doom  of  Viriathus  ?  and  what  warning  against  vain 
valor  was  written  on  the  desolate  site  where  Numantia  once  had 
flourished  ?  Nor  was  a  caution  wanting  in  scenes  nearer  home 
and  in  more  recent  times.  The  Gauls  had  fruitlessly  struggled 
for  eight  years  against  Caesar ;  and  the  gallant  Vercingetorix, 
who  in  the  last  year  of  the  war  had  roused  all  his  countrymen 
to  insurrection,  who  had  cut  ofE  Roman  detachments,  and  brought 
Caesar  himself  to  the  extreme  of  peril  at  Alesia — he,  too,  had 
finally  succumbed,  had  been  led  captive  in  Caesar's  triumph,  and 
had  then  been  butchered  in  cold  blood  in  a  Roman  dungeon. 

It  was  true  that  Rome  was  no  longer  the  great  military  repub- 
lic which  for  so  many  ages  had  shattered  the  kingdoms  of  the 
world.  Her  system  of  government  was  changed ;  and,  after  a 
century  of  revolution  and  civil  war,  she  had  placed  herself  under 
the  despotism  of  a  single  ruler.  But  the  discipline  of  her  troops 
was  yet  unimpaired,  and  her  warlike  spirit  seemed  unabated. 
The  first  years  of  the  empire  had  been  signalized  by  conquests 
as  valuable  as  any  gained  by  the  republic  in  a  corresponding 
period.  It  is  a  great  fallacy,  though  apparently  sanctioned  by 
great  authorities,  to  suppose  that  the  foreign  policy  pursued  by 
Augustus  was  pacific.  He  certainly  recommended  such  a  pol- 
icy to  his  successors,  either  from  timidity  or  from  jealousy  of 
their  fame  outshining  his  own ;  j-  but  he  himself,  until  Arminius 
broke  his  spirit,  had  followed  a  very  different  course.     Besides 

m;  *  Tacitus,  "Annals,"  ii.,  88. 

f  "Incertum  metu  an  per  invidiam." — Tac,  Ann.^  L,  11. 


THE  ROMAN  LEOIOKS  UNDER  VARUS.  121 

his  Spanish  wars,  his  generals,  in  a  series  of  principally  aggres- 
sive campaigns,  had  extended  the  Roman  frontier  from  the  Alps 
to  the  Danube ;  and  had  reduced  into  subjection  the  large  and 
important  countries  that  now  form  the  territories  of  all  Austria 
south  of  that  river,  and  of  East  Switzerland,  Lower  Wurtemberg, 
Bavaria,  the  Valteline,  and  the  Tyrol.  While  the  progress  of 
the  Roman  arms  thus  pressed  the  Germans  from  the  south,  still 
more  formidable  inroads  had  been  made  by  the  imperial  legions 
in  the  west.  Roman  armies,  moving  from  the  province  of  Gaul, 
established  a  chain  of  fortresses  along  the  right  as  well  as  the 
left  bank  of  the  Rhine,  and,  in  a  series  of  victorious  campaigns, 
advanced  their  eagles  as  far  as  the  Elbe,  which  now  seemed 
added  to  the  list  of  vassal  rivers — to  the  Nile,  the  Rhine,  the 
Rhone,  the  Danube,  the  Tagus,  the  Seine,  and  many  more — that 
acknowledged  the  supremacy  of  the  Tiber.  Roman  fleets  also, 
sailing  from  the  harbors  of  Gaul  along  the  German  coasts  and 
up  the  estuaries,  co-operated  with  the  land  forces  of  the  empire, 
and  seemed  to  display,  even  more  decisively  than  her  armies, 
her  overwhelming  superiority  over  the  rude  Germanic  tribes. 
Throughout  the  territory  thus  invaded  the  Romans  had,  with 
their  usual  military  skill,  established  chains  of  fortified  posts; 
and  a  powerful  army  of  occupation  was  kept  on  foot,  ready  to 
move  instantly  on  any  spot  where  a  popular  outbreak  might  be 
attempted.  :■  ' 

Vast,  however,  and  admirably  organized  as  the  fabric  of  Ro- 
man power  appeared  on  the  frontiers  and  in  the  provinces,  there 
was  rottenness  at  the  core.  In  Rome's  unceasing  hostilities 
with  foreign  foes,  and,  still  more,  in  her  long  series  of  desolat- 
ing civil  wars,  the  free  middle  classes  of  Italy  had  almost  wholly 
disappeared.  Above  the  position  which  they  had  occupied,  an 
oligarchy  of  wealth  had  reared  itself ;  beneath  that  position  a 
degraded  mass  of  poverty  and  misery  was  fermenting.  Slaves, 
the  chance  sweepings  of  every  conquered  country,  shoals  of 
Africans,  Sardinians,  Asiatics,  Illyrians,  and  others,  made  up 
the  bulk  of  the  population  of  the  Italian  peninsula.  The  foul- 
est profligacy  of  manners  was  general  in  all  ranks.  In  universal 
weariness  of  revolution  and  civil  war,  and  in  consciousness  of 
being  too  debased  for  self-government,  the  nation  had  submit- 
ted itself  to  the  absolute  authority  of  Augustus.  Adulation  was 
now  the  chief  function  of  the  senate;  and  the  gifts  of  genius 
and  accomplishments  of  art  were  devoted  to  the  elaboration  of 
eloquently  false  panegyrics  upon  the  prince  and  his  favorite 
courtiers.     With  bitter  indignation  must  the  German  chieftaip 


122  VICTORY  OF  ARMINIUS  OVER 

have  beheld  all  this,  and  contrasted  with  it  the  rough  worth  of 
his  own  countrymen — their  bravery,  their  fidelity  to  their  word, 
their  manly  independence  of  spirit,  their  love  of  their  national 
free  institutions,  and  their  loathing  of  every  pollution  and  mean- 
ness. Above  all,  he  must  have  thought  of  the  domestic  virtues 
that  hallowed  a  German  home ;  of  the  respect  there  shown  to 
the  female  character,  and  of  the  pure  affection  by  which  that 
respect  was  repaid.  His  soul  must  have  burned  within  him  at 
the  contemplation  of  such  a  race  yielding  to  these  debased  Ital- 
ians. 

Still,  to  persuade  the  Germans  to  combine,  in  spite  of  their 
frequent  feuds  among  themselves,  in  one  sudden  outbreak  against 
Rome ;  to  keep  the  scheme  concealed  from  the  Romans  until 
the  hour  for  action  had  arrived ;  and  then,  without  possessing 
a  single  walled  town,  without  military  stores,  without  training, 
to  teach  his  insurgent  countrymen  to  defeat  veteran  armies  and 
storm  fortifications,  seemed  so  perilous  an  enterprise  that  prob- 
ably Arminius  would  have  receded  from  it,  had  not  a  stronger 
feeling  even  than  patriotism  urged  him  on.  Among  the  Ger- 
mans of  high  rank  who  had  most  readily  submitted  to  the  in- 
vaders and  become  zealous  partisans  of  Roman  authority,  was  a 
chieftain  named  Segestes.  His  daughter^  Thusnelda,  was  pre- 
eminent among  the  noble  maidens  of  Germany.  Arminius  had 
sought  her  hand  in  marriage ;  but  Segestes,  who  probably  dis- 
cerned the  young  chief's  disaffection  to  Rome,  forbade  his  suit, 
and  strove  to  preclude  all  communication  between  him  and  his 
daughter.  Thusnelda,  however,  sympathized  far  more  with  the 
heroic  spirit  of  her  lover  than  with  the  timeserving  policy  of 
her  father.  An  elopement  baffled  the  precautions  of  Segestes ; 
who,  disappointed  in  his  hope  of  preventing  the  marriage,  ac- 
cused Arminius,  before  the  Roman  governor,  of  having  carried 
off  his  daughter,  and  of  planning  treason  against  Rome.  Thus 
assailed,  and  dreading  to  see  his  bride  torn  from  him  by  the 
officials  of  the  foreign  oppressor,  Arminius  delayed  no  longer, 
but  bent  all  his  energies  to  organize  and  execute  a  general  insur- 
rection of  the  great  mass  of  his  countrymen,  who  hitherto  had 
submitted  in  sullen  inertness  to  the  Roman  dominion. 

A  change  of  governors  had  recently  taken  place,  which,  while 
it  materially  favored  the  ultimate  success  of  the  insurgents,  served, 
by  the  immediate  aggravation  of  the  Roman  oppressions  which 
it  produced,  to  make  the  native  population  more  universally 
eager  to  take  arms.  Tiberius,  who  was  afterwards  emperor, 
had  lately  been  recalled  from  the  command  in  Germany,  and 


THE  ROMAN  LEGIONS  UNDER  VARUS.  123 

sent  into  Pannonia  to  put  down  a  dangerous  revolt  which  had 
broken  out  against  the  Romans  in  that  province.  The  German 
patriots  were  thus  delivered  from  the  stern  supervision  of  one  of 
the  most  suspicious  of  mankind,  and  were  also  relieved  from 
having  to  contend  against  the  high  military  talents  of  a  veteran 
commander,  who  thoroughly  understood  their  national  character 
and  the  nature  of  the  country,  which  he  himself  had  principally 
subdued.  In  the  room  of  Tiberius,  Augustus  sent  into  Germa- 
ny Quintilius  Varus,  who  had  lately  returned  from  the  procon- 
sulate of  Syria.  Varus  was  a  true  representative  of  the  higher 
classes  of  the  Romans ;  among  whom  a  general  taste  for  litera- 
ture, a  keen  susceptibility  to  all  intellectual  gratifications,  a  mi- 
nute acquaintance  with  the  principles  and  practice  of  their  own 
national  jurisprudence,  a  careful  training  in  the  schools  of  the 
rhetoricians,  and  a  fondness  for  either  partaking  in  or  watching 
the  intellectual  strife  of  forensic  oratory,  had  become  generally 
diffused ;  without,  however,  having  humanized  the  old  Roman 
spirit  of  cruel  indifference  for  human  feelings  and  human  suffer- 
ings, and  without  acting  as  the  least  check  on  unprincipled  ava- 
rice and  ambition,  or  on  habitual  and  gross  profligacy.  Accus- 
tomed to  govern  the  depraved  and  debased  natives  of  Syria,  a 
country  where  courage  in  man  and  virtue  in  woman  had  for  cen- 
turies been  unknown,  Varus  thought  that  he  might  gratify  his 
licentious  and  rapacious  passions  with  equal  impunity  among 
the  high-minded  sons  and  pure-spirited  daughters  of  Germany. 
When  the  general  of  an  army  sets  the  example  of  outrages  of 
this  description,  he  is  soon  faithfully  imitated  by  his  officers, 
and  surpassed  by  his  still  more  brutal  soldiery.  The  Romans 
now  habitually  indulged  in  those  violations  of  the  sanctity  of 
the  domestic  shrine,  and  those  insults  upon  honor  and  modesty, 
by  which  far  less  gallant  spirits  than  those  of  our  Teutonic  an- 
cestors have  often  been  maddened  into  insurrection.* 

*  I  cannot  forbear  quoting  Macaulay's  beautiful  lines,  where  he  describes 
how  similar  outrages  in  the  early  times  of  Rome  goaded  the  plebeians  to  rise 
against  the  patricians : 

"  Heap  heavier  still  the  fetters ;  bar  closer  still  the  grate ; 
Patient  as  sheep  we  yield  us  up  unto  your  cruel  hate. 
But  by  the  shades  beneath  us,  and  by  the  gods  above, 
Add  not  unto  your  cruel  hate  your  still  more  cruel  love ! 

Then  leave  the  poor  plebeian  his  single  tie  to  life — 
The  sweet,  sweet  love  of  daughter,  of  sister,  and  of  wife ; 
The  gentle  speech,  the  balm  for  all  that  his  vext  soul  endures ; 
The  kiss  in  which  he  half  forgets  even  such  a  yoke  as  yours. 


124  VlCTOttY  OF  ARMimus  OVER 

Arminius  found  among  the  other  German  chiefs  many  who 
sympathized  with  him  in  his  indignation  at  their  country's  de- 
basement, and  many  whom  private  wrongs  had  stung  yet  more 
deeply.  There  was  little  difficulty  in  collecting  bold  leaders  for 
an  attack  on  the  oppressors,  and  little  fear  of  the  population  not 
rising  readily  at  those  leaders'  call.  But  to  declare  open  war 
against  Rome,  and  to  encounter  Varus's  army  in  a  pitched  bat- 
tle, would  have  been  merely  rushing  upon  certain  destruction. 
Varus  had  three  legions  under  him,  a  force  which,  after  allow- 
ing for  detachments,  cannot  be  estimated  at  less  than  fourteen 
thousand  Roman  infantry.  He  had  also  eight  or  nine  hundred 
Roman  cavalry,  and  at  least  an  equal  number  of  horse  and  foot 
sent  from  the  allied  states,  or  raised  among  those  provincials 
who  had  not  received  the  Roman  franchise. 

It  was  not  merely  the  number,  but  the  quality  of  this  force 
that  made  it  formidable  ;  and  however  contemptible  Varus  might 
be  as  a  general,  Arminius  well  knew  how  admirably  the  Roman 
armies  were  organized  and  officered,  and  how  perfectly  the  le- 
gionaries understood  every  manoeuvre  and  every  duty  which  the 
varying  emergencies  of  a  stricken  field  might  require.  Strata- 
gem was,  therefore,  indispensable  ;  and  it  Ayas  necessary  to  blind 
Varus  to  his  schemes  until  a  favorable  opportunity  should  arrive 
for  striking  a  decisive  blow. 

For  this  purpose  the  German  confederates  frequented  the 
headquarters  of  Varus,  which  seem  to  have  been  near  the  cen- 
tre of  the  modern  country  of  Westphalia,  where  the  Roman  gen- 
eral conducted  himself  with  all  the  arrogant  security  of  the  gov- 
ernor of  a  perfectly  submissive  province.  There  Varus  gratified 
at  once  his  vanity,  his  rhetorical  taste,  and  his  avarice,  by  hold- 
ing courts,  to  which  he  summoned  the  Germans  for  the  settle- 
ment of  all  their  disputes,  while  a  bar  of  Roman  advocates 
attended  to  argue  the  cases  before  the  tribunal  of  the  procon- 
sul, who  did  not  omit  the  opportunity  of  exacting  court  fees 
and  accepting  bribes.  Varus  trusted  implicitly  to  the  respect 
which  the  Germans  pretended  to  pay  to  his  abilities  as  a  judge, 
and  to  the  interest  which  they  affected  to  take  in  the  forensic 
eloquence  of  their  conquerors.     Meanwhile  a  succession  of  heavy 

Still  let  the  maiden's  beauty  swell  the  father's  breast  with  pride ; 

Still  let  the  bridegroom's  arms  enfold  an  unpolluted  bride. 

Spare  us  the  inexpiable  wrong,  the  unutterable  shame, 

That  turns  the  coward's  heart  tt)  steel,  the  sluggard's  blood  to  flame ; 

Lest  when  our  latest  hope  is  fled  ye  taste  of  our  despair, 

And  learn  by  proof,  in  some  wild  hour,  how  much  the  wretched  dare." 


THE  ROMAN  LEGIONS   UNDER   VARUS.  125 

rains  rendered  the  country  more  diflBcult  for  the  operations  of 
regular  troops ;  and  Arminius,  seeing  that  the  infatuation  of 
Varus  was  complete,  secretly  directed  the  tribes  near  the  Weser 
and  the  Ems  to  take  up  arms  in  open  revolt  against  the  Romans. 
This  was  represented  to  Varus  as  an  occasion  which  required  his 
prompt  attendance  at  the  spot ;  but  he  was  kept  in  studied  ig- 
norance of  its  being  part  of  a  concerted  national  rising ;  and  he 
still  looked  on  Arminius  as  his  submissive  vassal,  whose  aid  he 
might  rely  on  in  facilitating  the  march  of  his  troops  against  the 
rebels,  and  in  extinguishing  the  local  disturbance.  He  therefore 
set  his  army  in  motion,  and  marched  eastward  in  a  line  parallel 
to  the  course  of  the  Lippe.  For  some  distance  his  route  lay 
along  a  level  plain;  but  on  arriving  at  the  tract  between  the 
curve  of  the  upper  part  of  that  stream  and  the  sources  of  the 
Ems,  the  country  assumes  a  very  different  character ;  and  here, 
in  the  territory  of  the  modern  little  principality  of  Lippe,  it 
was  that  Arminius  had  fixed  the  scene  of  his  enterprise. 

A  woody  and  hilly  region  intervenes  between  the  heads  of  the 
two  rivers,  and  forms  the  watershed  of  their  streams.  This  re- 
gion still  retains  the  name  (Teutoberger  Wald — Teutohergiensis 
saltus)  which  it  bore  in  the  days  of  Arminius,  The  nature  of 
the  ground  has  probably  also  remained  unaltered.  The  eastern 
part  of  it,  round  Detmoldt,  the  present  capital  of  the  principal- 
ity of  Lippe,  is  described  by  a  modern  German  scholar,  Dr. 
Plate,  as  being  "  a  table-land  intersected  by  numerous  deep  and 
narrow  valleys,  which  in  some  places  form  small  plains,  sur- 
rounded by  steep  mountains  and  rocks,  and  only  accessible  by 
narrow  defiles.  All  the  valleys  are  traversed  by  rapid  streams, 
shallow  in  the  dry  season,  but  subject  to  sudden  swellings  in 
autumn  and  winter.  The  vast  forests  which  cover  the  summits 
and  slopes  of  the  hills  consist  chiefly  of  oak ;  there  is  little  un- 
derwood, and  both  men  and  horse  would  move  with  ease  in  the 
forests  if  the  ground  were  not  broken  by  gulleys  or  rendered 
impracticable  by  fallen  trees."  This  is  the  district  to  which 
Varus  is  supposed  to  have  marched;  and  Dr.  Plate  adds  that 
"the  names  of  several  localities  on  and  near  that  spot  seem  to 
indicate  that  a  great  battle  had  once  been  fought  there.  We 
find  the  names  '  das  Winnefeld '  (the  field  of  victory), '  die  Kno- 
chenbahn  '  (the  bone-lane), '  die  Knochenleke '  (the  bone-brook), 
'  der  Mordkessel '  (the  kettle  of  slaughter),  and  others."  * 

*  I  am  indebted  for  much  valuable  information  on  this  subject  ta  my  friend 
Mr.  Henry  Pearson. 


126  VICTORY  OF  ARMINIUS  OVER 

Contrary  to  the  usual  strict  principles  of  Roman  discipline, 
Varus  had  suffered  his  array  to  be  accompanied  and  impeded  by 
an  immense  train  of  baggage- wagons  and  by  a  rabble  of  camp- 
followers,  as  if  his  troops  had  been  merely  changing  their  quar- 
ters in  a  friendly  country.  When  the  long  array  quitted  the 
.firm  level  ground  and  began  to  wind  its  way  among  the  woods, 
the  marshes,  and  the  ravines,  the  difficulties  of  the  march,  even 
without  the  intervention  of  an  armed  foe,  became  fearfully  ap- 
parent. In  many  places  the  soil,  sodden  with  rain,  was  imprac- 
ticable for  cavalry  and  even  for  infantry,  until  trees  had  been 
felled,  and  a  rude  causeway  formed  through  the  morass. 

The  duties  of  the  engineer  were  familiar  to  all  who  served  in 
the  Roman  armies.  But  the  crowd  and  confusion  of  the  col- 
umns embarrassed  the  working  parties  of  the  soldiery,  and  in 
the  midst  of  their  toil  and  disorder  the  word  was  suddenly 
passed  through  their  ranks  that  the  rear-guard  was  attacked 
by  the  barbarians.  Varus  resolved  on  pressing  forward ;  but 
a  heavy  discharge  of  missiles  from  the  woods  on  either  flank 
taught  him  how  serious  was  the  peril,  and  he  saw  the  best  men 
falling  round  him  without  the  opportunity  of  retaliation;  for 
his  light-armed  auxiliaries,  who  were  principally  of  Germanic 
race,  now  rapidly  deserted,  and  it  was  impossible  to  deploy  the 
legionaries  on  such  broken  ground  for  a  charge  against  the 
enemy.  Choosing  one  of  the  most  open  and  firm  spots  which 
they  could  force  their  way  to,  the  Romans  halted  for  the  night ; 
and,  faithful  to  their  national  discipline  and  tactics,  formed 
their  camp  amid  the  harassing  attacks  of  the  rapidly  thronging 
foes,  with  the  elaborate  toil  and  systematic  skill  the  traces  of 
which  are  impressed  permanently  on  the  soil  of  so  many  Euro- 
pean countries,  attesting  the  presence  in  the  olden  time  of  the 
imperial  eagles. 

On  the  morrow  the  Romans  renewed  their  march  ;  the  veteran 
officers  who  served  under  Varus  now  probably  directing  the  ope- 
rations, and  hoping  to  find  the  Germans  drawn  up  to  meet  them ; 
in  which  case  they  relied  on  their  own  superior  discipline  and 
tactics  for  such  a  victory  as  should  reassure  the  supremacy  of 
Rome.  But  Arminius  was  far  too  sage  a  commander  to  lead  on 
his  followers,  with  their' unwieldy  broadswords  and  inefficient 
defensive  armor,  against  the  Roman  legionaries,  fully  armed 
with  helmet,  cuirass,  greaves,  and  shield ;  who  were  skilled  to 
commence  the  conflict  with  a  murderous  volley  of  heavy  jave- 
lins, hurled  upon  the  foe  when  a  few  yards  distant,  and  then, 
with  their  short  cut-and-thrust  swords,  to  hew  their  way  through 


THE  ROMAN  LEGIONS  UNDER  VARUS.  127 

all  opposition  ;  preserving  the  utmost  steadiness  and  coolness, 
and  obeying  each  word  of  command  in  the  midst  of  strife  and 
slaughter  with  the  same  precision  and  alertness  as  if  upon  pa- 
rade.* Arminius  suffered  the  Romans  to  march  out  from  their 
camp,  to  form  first  in  line  for  action,  and  then  in  column  for 
marching,  without  the  show  of  opposition.  For  some  distance 
Varus  was  allowed  to  move  on,  only  harassed  by  slight  skir- 
mishes, but  struggling  with  diflficulty  through  the  broken  ground ; 
the  toil  and  distress  of  his  men  being  aggravated  by  heavy  tor- 
rents of  rain,  which  burst  upon  the  devoted  legions  as  if  the 
angry  gods  of  Germany  were  pouring  out  the  vials  of  their  wrath 
upon  the  invaders.  After  some  little  time  their  van  approached 
a  ridge  of  high  woody  ground,  which  is  one  of  the  offshoots  of 
the  great  Hercynian  forest,  and  is  situated  between  the  modern 
villages  of  Driburg  and  Bielefeld.  Arminius  had  caused  bar- 
ricades of  hewn  trees  to  be  formed  here,  so  as  to  add  to  the 
natural  difficulties  of  the  passage.  Fatigue  and  discouragement 
now  began  to  betray  themselves  in  the  Roman  ranks.  Their 
line  became  less  steady ;  baggage-wagons  were  abandoned  from 
the  impossibility  of  forcing  them  along ;  and,  as  this  happened, 
many  soldiers  left  their  ranks  and  crowded  round  the  wagons 
to  secure  the  most  valuable  portions  of  their  property ;  each 
was  busy  about  his  own  affairs,  and  purposely  slow  in  hearing 
the  word  of  command  from  his  officers.  Arminius  now  gave 
the  signal  for  a  general  attack.  The  fierce  shouts  of  the  Ger- 
mans pealed  through  the  gloom  of  the  forests,  and  in  thronging 
multitudes  they  assailed  the  flanks  of  the  invaders,  pouring  in 
clouds  of  darts  on  the  encumbered  legionaries,  as  they  strug- 
gled up  the  glens  or  floundered  in  the  morasses,  and  watching 
every  opportunity  of  charging  through  the  intervals  of  the  dis- 
jointed column,  and  so  cutting  off  the  communication  between 
its  several  brigades.  Arminius,  with  a  chosen  band  of  personal 
retainers  round  him,  cheered  on  his  countrymen  by  voice  and 
example.  He  and  his  men  aimed  their  weapons  particularly 
at  the  horses  of  the  Roman  cavalry.  The  wounded  animals, 
slipping  about  in  the  mire  and  their  own  blood,  threw  their 
riders,  and  plunged  among  the  ranks  of  the  legions,  disordering 
all  round  them.  Varus  now  ordered  the  troops  to  be  counter- 
marched, in  the  hope  of  reaching  the  nearest  Roman  garrison 


*  See  Gibbon's  description  (vol.  i.,  chap.  1)  of  the  Roman  legions  in  the 
time  of  Augustus;  and  see  the  description  of  Tacitus  (Ann.,  lib.  i.)  of  the 
subsequent  battles  between  Caecina  and  Arminius. 


128  VICTORY  OF  ARMINIUS  OVER 

on  the  Lippe.*  But  retreat  now  was  as  impracticable  as  ad- 
vance ;  and  the  falling-back  of  the  Romans  only  augmented  the 
courage  of  their  assailants,  and  caused  fiercer  and  more  frequent 
charges  on  the  flanks  of  the  disheartened  army.  The  Roman 
officer  who  commanded  the  cavalry,  Numonius  Vala,  rode  o£E 
with  his  squadrons,  in  the  vain  hope  of  escaping  by  thus  aban- 
doning his  comrades.  Unable  to  keep  together,  or  force  their 
way  across  the  woods  and  swamps,  the  horsemen  were  over- 
powered in  detail  and  slaughtered  to  the  last  man.  The  Roman 
infantry  still  held  together  and  resisted,  but  more  through  the 
instinct  of  discipline  and  bravery  than  from  any  hope  of  suc- 
cess or  escape.  Varus,  after  being  severely  wounded  in  a  charge 
of  the  Germans  against  his  part  of  the  column,  committed  sui- 
cide to  avoid  falling  into  the  hands  of  those  whom  he  had  ex- 
asperated by  his  oppressions.  One  of  the  lieutenant-generals 
of  the  army"^  fell  fighting ;  the  other  surrendered  to  the  enemy. 
But  mercy  \o  a  fallen  foe  had  never  been  a  Roman  virtue,  and 
those  among  her  legions  who  now  laid  down  their  arms  in  hope 
of  quarter  drank  deep  of  the  cup  of  suffering  which  Rome  had 
held  to  the  lips  of  many  a  brave  but  unfortunate  enemy.  The 
infuriated  Germans  slaughtered  their  oppressors  with  deliberate 
ferocity ;  and  those  prisoners  who  were  not  hewn  to  pieces  on 
the  spot  were  only  preserved  to  perish  by  a  more  cruel  death 
in  cold  blood. 

The  bulk  of  the  Roman  army  fought  steadily  and  stubbornly, 
frequently  repelling  the  masses  of  the  assailants,  but  gradually 
losing  the  compactness  of  their  array,  and  becoming  weaker  and 
weaker  beneath  the  incessant  shower  of  darts  and  the  reiterated 
assaults  of  the  vigorous  and  unencumbered  Germans.  At  last, 
in  a  series  of  desperate  attacks  the  column  was  pierced  through 
and  through,  two  of  the  eagles  captured,  and  the  Roman  host, 
which  on  the  yester  morning  had  marched  forth  in  such  pride 

*  The  circumstances  of  the  early  part  of  the  battle  which  Arminius  fought 
with  Caecina  six  years  afterwards,  evidently  resembled  those  of  his  battle  with 
Varus,  and  the  result  was  very  near  being  the  same :  I  have  therefore  adopt- 
ed part  of  the  description  which  Tacitus  gives  (Ann.,  lib.  i.,  c.  65)  of  the 
last-mentioned  engagement :  "  Neque  tamen  Arminius,  quamquam  libero  in- 
cursu,  statim  prorupit :  sed,  ut  haesere  coeno  fossisque  impedimenta,  turbati 
circum  milites;  incertus  signorum  ordo;  utque  tali  in  tempore  sibi  quisque 
properus,  et  lentae  adversum  imperia  aures,  irrumpere  Germanos  jubet,  clami- 
tans  *En  Varus,  et  eodem  iterum  fato  victse  legiones!'  Simul  haec,  et  cum 
delectis  scindit  agmen,  equisque  maxime  vulnera  ingerit ;  illi  sanguine  suo 
et  lubrico  paludum  lapsantes,  excussis  rectoribus,  disjicere  obvios,  proterere 
jacentes." 


THE  ROMAN  LEGIONS   UNDER    VARUS.  129 

and  raight,  now  broken  up  into  confused  fragments,  either  fell 
fighting  beneath  the  overpowering  numbers  of  the  enemy,  or 
perished  in  the  swamps  and  woods  in  unavailing  efforts  at  flight. 
Few,  very  few,  ever  saw  again  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine.  One 
body  of  brave  veterans,  arraying  themselves  in  a  ring  on  a  little 
mound,  beat  off  every  charge  of  the  Germans,  and  prolonged 
their  honorable  resistance  to  the  close  of  that  dreadful  day. 
The  traces  of  a  feeble  attempt  at  forming  a  ditch  and  mound 
attested  in  after-years  the  spot  where  the  last  of  the  Romans 
passed  their  night  of  suffering  and  despair.  But  on  the  mor- 
row this  remnant  also,  worn  out  with  hunger,  wounds,  and  toil, 
was  charged  by  the  victorious  Germans,  and  either  massacred 
on  the  spot,  or  offered  up  in  fearful  rites  at  the  altars  of  the 
deities  of  the  old  mythology  of  the  North. 

A  gorge  in  the  mountain-ridge,  through  which  runs  the  mod- 
ern road  between  Paderborn  and  Pyrraont,  leads  from  the  spot 
where  the  heat  of  the  battle  raged  to  the  Extersteine,  a  cluster 
of  bold  and  grotesque  rocks  of  sandstone,  near  which  is  a  small 
sheet  of  water,  overshadowed  by  a  grove  of  aged  trees.  Ac- 
cording to  local  tradition,  this  was  one  of  the  sacred  groves 
of  the  ancient  Germans,  and  it  was  here  that  the  Roman  cap- 
tives were  slain  in  sacrifice  by  the  victorious  warriors  of  Armiu; 
ius.* 

Never  was  victory  more  decisive,  never  was  the  liberation  of 
an  oppressed  people  more  instantaneous  and  complete.  Through- 
out Germany  the  Roman  garrisons  were  assailed  and  cut  off; 
and  within  a  few  weeks  after  Varus  had  fallen,  the  German 
soil  was  freed  from  the  foot  of  an  invader. 

At  Rome,  the  tidings  of  the  battle  were  received  with  an  agony 
of  terror,  the  descriptions  of  which  we  should  deem  exaggerated 
did  they  not  come  from  Roman  historians  themselves.  These 
passages  in  the  Roman  writers  not  only  tell  emphatically  how 
great  was  the  awe  which  the  Romans  felt  of  the  prowess  of  the 
Germans,  if  their  various  tribes  could  be  brought  to  reunite  for 
a  common  purpose, f  but  also  they  reveal  how  weakened  and 

*  "  Lucis  propinquis  barbaras  arie,  apud  quas  tribunos  ac  primorum  ordi- 
iium  centuriones  mactaverant." — Tacitus,  Ann.,  lib.  i.,  c.  61. 

f  It  is  clear  that  the  Romans  followed  the  policy  of  fomenting  dissensions 
and  wars  of  the  Germans  among  themselves.  See  the  thirty-third  section  of 
the  "Germania"  of  Tacitus,  where  he  mentions  the  destruction  of  the  Bruc- 
teri  by  the  neighboring  tribes :  "  Favore  quodam  erga  nos  deorum  :  nam  ne 
spectaculo  quidem  proelii  invidere :  super  Ix.  niilia,  non  armis  telisque  Ro« 
manis,  sed,  quod  magnificentius  est,  oblectatioui  oculisque  ceciderunt.  Ma- 
neat  qujeso,  duretque  gentibus,  si  non  amor  nostri,  at  certe  odium  sui ;  quando 


130  VICTORY  OF  ARMimUS  OVER 

debased  the  population  of  Italy  had  become.  Dion  Cassius 
says :  *  "  Then  Augustus,  when  he  heard  the  calamity  of  Varus, 
rent  his  garments,  and  was  in  great  affliction  for  the  troops  he 
had  lost,  and  for  terror  respecting  the  Germans  and  the  Gauls. 
And  his  chief  alarm  was,  that  he  expected  them  to  push  on 
against  Italy  and  Rome :  and  there  remained  no  Roman  youth 
fit  for  military  duty,  that  were  worth  speaking  of,  and  the  al- 
lied populations  that  were  at  all  serviceable  had  been  wasted 
away.  Yet  he  prepared  for  the  emergency  as  well  as  his  means 
allowed;  and  when  none  of  the  citizens  of  military  age  were 
willing  to  enlist  he  made  them  cast  lots,  and  punished  by  con- 
fiscation of  goods  and  disfranchisement  every  fifth  man  among 
those  under  thirty-five,  and  every  tenth  man  of  those  above  that 
age.  At  last,  when  he  found  that  not  even  thus  could  he  make 
many  come  forward,  he  put  some  of  them  to  death.  So  he 
made  a  conscription  of  discharged  veterans  and  emancipated 
slaves,  and,  collecting  as  large  a  force  as  he  could,  sent  it,  under 
Tiberius,  with  all  speed  into  Germany." 

Dion  mentions  also  a  number  of  terrific  portents  that  were 
believed  to  have  occurred  at  the  time;  and  the  narration  of 
which  is  not  immaterial,  as  it  shows  the  state  of  the  public 
mind,  when  such  things  were  so  believed  in  and  so  interpreted. 
The  summits  of  the  Alps  were  said  to  have  fallen,  and  three 
columns  of  fire  to  have  blazed  up  from  them.  In  the  Campus 
Martins,  the  temple  of  the  War-god,  from  whom  the  founder 
of  Rome  had  sprung,  was  struck  by  a  thunderbolt.  The  night- 
ly heavens  glowed  several  times,  as  if  on  fire.  Many  comets 
blazed  forth  together;  and  fiery  meteors,  shaped  like  spears, 
had  shot  from  the  northern  quarter  of  the  sky  down  into  the 
Roman  camps.  It  was  said,  too,  that  a  statue  of  Victory,  which 
had  stood  at  a  place  on  the  frontier,  pointing  the  way  towards 
Germany,  had  of  its  own  accord  turned  round,  and  now  pointed 
to  Italy.  These  and  other  prodigies  were  believed  by  the  mul- 
titude to  accompany  the  slaughter  of  Varus's  legions,  and  to 
manifest  the  anger  of  the  gods  against  Rome.  Augustus  him- 
self was  not  free  from  superstition ;  but  on  this  occasion  no  su- 
pernatural terrors  were  needed  to  increase  the  alarm  and  grief 
that  he  felt ;  and  which  made  him,  even  for  months  after  the 
news  of  the  battle  had  arrived,  often  beat  his  head  against  the 
wall,  and  exclaim,  "  Quintilius  Varus,  give  me  back  my  legions  !" 

urgentibus  imperii  fatis,  nihil  jam  prsestare  fortuna  majus  potest,  quam  hos- 
tium  discordiam." 
*  Lib.  Ivi.,  sec.  23. 


THE  ROMAN  LEGIONS   UNDER   VARUS.  131 

We  learn  this  from  his  biographer,  Suetonius;  and,  indeed, 
every  ancient  writer  who  alludes  to  the  overthrow  of  Varus 
attests  the  importance  of  the  blow  against  the  Roman  power, 
and  the  bitterness  with' which  it  was  felt.* 

The  Germans  did  not  pursue  their  victory  beyond  their  own 
territory.  But  that  victory  secured  at  once  and  forever  the  in- 
dependence of  the  Teutonic  race.  Rome  sent,  indeed,  her  le- 
gions again  into  Germany,  to  parade  a  temporary  superiority ; 
but  all  hopes  of  permanent  conquest  were  abandoned  by  Au- 
gustus and  his  successors. 

The  blow  which  Arminius  had  struck  never  was  forgotten. 
Roman  fear  disguised  itself  under  the  specious  title  of  modera- 
tion ;  and  the  Rhine  became  the  acknowledged  boundary  of  the 
two  nations  until  the  fifth  century  of  our  era,  when  the  Germans 
became  the  assailants,  and  carved  with  their  conquering  swords 
the  provinces  of  Imperial  Rome  into  the  kingdoms  of  modern 
Europe. 

ARMINIUS. 

I  have  said  above  that  the  great  Cheruscan  is  more  truly  one 
of  our  national  heroes  than  Caractacus  is.  It  may  be  added 
that  an  Englishman  is  entitled  to  claim  a  closer  degree  of  re- 
lationship with  Arminius  than  can  be  claimed  by  any  German 
of  modern  Germany.  The  proof  of  this  depends  on  the  proof 
of  four  facts  :  first,  that  the  Cherusci  were  Old  Saxons,  or  Sax- 
ons of  the  interior  of  Germany ;  secondly,  that  the  Anglo-Sax- 
ons, or  Saxons  of  the  coast  of  Germany,  were  more  closely  akin 
than  other  German  tribes  were  to  the  Cheruscan  Saxons ;  third- 
ly, that  the  Old  Saxons  were  almost  exterminated  by  Charle- 
magne ;  fourthly,  that  the  Anglo-Saxons  are  our  immediate 
ancestors.  The  last  of  these  may  be  assumed  as  an  axiom  in 
English  history.  The  proofs  of  the  other  three  are  partly  phil- 
ological and  partly  historical.  I  have  not  space  to  go  into 
them  here,  but  they  will  be  found  in  the  early  chapters  of  the 
great  work  of  Dr.  Robert  Gordon  Latham  on  the  "  English 
Language,"  and  in  the  notes  of  his  edition  of  the  "  Germania 
of  Tacitus."  It  may  be,  however,  here  remarked  that  the  pres- 
ent Saxons  of  Germany  are  of  the  High-Germanic  division  of 
the  German  race,  whereas  both  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  Old  Saxon 
were  of  the  Low  Germanic. 


*  Florus  expresses  its  effect  most  pithily :  *'  Hac  clade  factum  est  nt  impe- 
rium  quod  in  litore  oceani  non  steterat,  in  ripa  Rheni  fluminis  staret "  (iv.,  12). 


132  ARMINIUS. 

Being  thus  the  nearest  heirs  of  the  glory  of  Arminius,  we  may 
fairly  devote  more  attention  to  his  career  than,  in  such  a  work 
as  the  present,  could  be  allowed  to  any  individual  leader.  And 
it  is  interesting  to  trace  how  far  his  fame  survived  during  the 
Middle  Ages,  both  among  the  Germans  of  the  Continent  and 
among  ourselves. 

It  seems  probable  that  the  jealousy  with  which  Maraboduus, 
the  king  of  the  Suevi  and  Marcomanni,  regarded  Arminius,  and 
which  ultimately  broke  out  into  open  hostilities  between  those 
German  tribes  and  the  Cherusci,  prevented  Arminius  from  lead- 
ing the  confederate  Germans  to  attack  Italy  after  his  first  vic- 
tory. Perhaps  he  may  have  had  the  rare  moderation  of  being 
content  with  the  liberation  of  his  country,  without  seeking  to 
retaliate  on  her  former  oppressors.  When  Tiberius  marched 
into  Germany  in  the  year  10,  Arminius  was  too  cautious  to  at- 
tack him  on  ground  favorable  to  the  legions,  and  Tiberius  was 
too  skilful  to  entangle  his  troops  in  difficult  parts  of  the  coun- 
try. His  march  and  countermarch  were  as  unresisted  as  they 
were  unproductive.  A  few  years  later,  when  a  dangerous  re- 
volt of  the  Roman  legions  near  the  frontier  caused  their  gen- 
erals to  find  them  active  employment  by  leading  them  into  the 
interior  of  Germany,  we  find  Arminius  again  energetic  in  his 
country's  defence.  The  old  quarrel  between  him  and  his  fa- 
ther-in-law, Segestes,  had  broken  out  afresh.  Segestes  now 
called  in  the  aid  of  the  Roman  general,  Germanicus,  to  whom 
he  surrendered  himself;  and  by  his  contrivance  his  daughter 
Thusnelda,  the  wife  of  Arminius,  also  came  into  the  hands  of  the 
Romans,  being  far  advanced  in  pregnancy.  She  showed,  as  Taci- 
tus relates,*  more  of  the  spirit  of  her  husband  than  of  her  father 
— a  spirit  that  could  not  be  subdued  into  tears  or  supplications. 
She  was  sent  to  Ravenna,  and  there  gave  birth  to  a  son,  whose 
life  we  find,  from  an  allusion  in  Tacitus,  to  have  been  eventful 
and  unhappy ;  but  the  part  of  the  great  historian's  work  which 
narrated  his  fate  has  perished,  and  we  only  know  from  another 
quarter  that  the  son  of  Arminius  was,  at  the  age  of  four  years, 
led  captive  in  a  triumphal  pageant  along  the  streets  of  Rome. 

The  high  spirit  of  Arminius  was  goaded  almost  into  frenzy 
by  these  bereavements.  The  fate  of  his  wife,  thus  torn  from 
him,  and  of  his  babe  doomed  to  bondage  even  before  its  birth, 
inflamed  the  eloquent  invectives  with  which  he  roused  his 
countrymen  against  the   home   traitors,  and   against  their  iu- 

'  "  Anuals,"  i.,  67, 


ARMINIUS.  133 

vaders,  who  thus  made  war  upon  women  and  children.  Ger- 
manicus  had  marched  his  army  to  the  place  where  Varus  had 
perished,  and  had  there  paid  funeral  honors  to  the  ghastly 
relics  of  his  predecessor's  legions  that  he  found  heaped  around 
him.*  Arminius  lured  him  to  advance  a  little  farther  into  the 
country,  and  then  assailed  him,  and  fought  a  battle,  which,  by 
the  Roman  accounts,  was  a  drawn  one.  The  effect  of  it  was 
to  make  Germanicus  resolve  on  retreating  to  the  Rhine.  He 
himself,  with  part  of  his  troops,  embarked  in  some  vessels  on 
the  Ems,  and  returned  by  that  river,  and  then  by  sea;  but 
part  of  his  forces  were  intrusted  to  a  Roman  general,  named 
Csecina,  to  lead  them  back  by  land  to  the  Rhine.  Arminius 
followed  this  division  on  its  march,  and  fought  several  bat- 
tles with  it,  in  which  he  inflicted  heavy  loss  on  the  Romans, 
captured  the  greater  part  of  their  baggage,  and  would  have 
destroyed  them  completely,  had  not  his  skilful  system  of 
operations  been  finally  thwarted  by  the  haste  of  Inguiomerus, 
a  confederate  German  chief,  who  insisted  on  assaulting  the 
Romans  in  their  camp,  instead  of  waiting  till  they  were  en- 
tangled in  the  difficulties  of  the  country,  and  assailing  their 
columns  on  the  march. 

In  the  following  year  the  Romans  were  inactive ;  but  in  the 
year  afterwards  Germanicus  led  a  fresh  invasion.  He  placed 
his  army  on  ship-board,  and  sailed  to  the  mouth  of  the  Ems, 
where  he  disembarked,  and  marched  to  the  Weser,  where  he 
encamped,  probably  in  the  neighborhood  of  Minden.  Arminius 
had  collected  his  army  on  the  other  side  of  the  river  ;  and  a 
scene  occurred,  which  is  powerfully  told  by  Tacitus,  and  which 
is  the  subject  of  a  beautiful  poem  by  Praed.  It  has  been  al- 
ready mentioned  that  the  brother  of  Arminius,  like  himself, 
had  been  trained  up,  while  young,  to  serve  in  the  Roman 
armies ;  but,  unlike  Arminius,  he  not  only  refused  to  quit  the 
Roman  service  for  that  of  his  country,  but  fought  against  his 
country  with  the  legions  of  Germanicus.  He  had  assumed  the 
Roman  name  of  Flavins,  and  had  gained  considerable  distinc- 
tion in  the  Roman  service,  in  which  he  had  lost  an  eye  from  a 
wound  in  battle.  When  the  Roman  outposts  approached  the 
river  Weser,  Arminius  called  out  to  them  from  the  opposite 
bank,  and  expressed  a  wish  to  see  his  brother.  Flavins  stepped 
forward,  and  Arminius  ordered  his  own  followers  to  retire,  and 

*  In  the  Museum  of  Rhenish  antiquities  at  Bonn  there  is  a  Roman  sepul- 
chral monument,  the  inscription  on  which  records  that  it  was  erected  to  the 
memory  of  M.  Coelius,  who  fell  "  Bello  Variano." 


134  ARMimUS. 

requested  that  the  archers  should  be  removed  from  the  Roman 
bank  of  the  river.  This  was  done :  and  the  brothers,  who  ap- 
parently had  not  seen  each  other  for  some  years,  began  a 
conversation  from  the  opposite  sides  of  the  stream,  in  which 
Arminius  questioned  his  brother  respecting  the  loss  of  his  eye, 
and  what  battle  it  had  been  lost  in,  and  what  reward  he  had 
received  for  his  wound.  Flavins  told  him  how  the  eye  was  de- 
stroyed, and  mentioned  the  increased  pay  that  he  had  on  ac- 
count of  its  loss,  and  showed  the  collar  and  other  military 
decorations  that  had  been  given  him.  Arminius  mocked  at 
these  as  badges  of  slavery ;  and  then  each  began  to  try  to  win 
the  other  over — Flavius  boasting  the  power  of  Rome,  and  her 
generosity  to  the  submissive ;  Arminius  appealing  to  him  in 
the  name  of  their  country's  gods,  of  the  mother  that  had  borne 
them,  and  by  the  holy  names  of  fatherland  and  freedom,  not 
to  prefer  being  the  betrayer  to  being  the  champion  of  his 
country.  They  soon  proceeded  to  mutual  taunts  and  menaces, 
and  Flavius  called  aloud  for  his  horse  and  his  arms,  that  he 
might  dash  across  the  river  and  attack  his  brother ;  nor  would 
he  have  been  checked  from  doing  so,  had  not  the  Roman  gen- 
eral, Stertinius,  run  up  to  him,  and  forcibly  detained  him. 
Arminius  stood  on  the  other  bank,  threatening  the  renegade, 
and  defying  him  to  battle. 

I  shall  not  be  thought  to  need  apology  for  quoting  here  the 
stanzas  in  which  Praed  has  described  this  scene-^-a  scene 
among  the  most  affecting,  as  well  as  the  most  striking,  that 
history  supplies.  It  makes  us  reflect  on  the  desolate  position 
of  Arminius,  with  his  wife  and  child  captives  in  the  enemy's 
hands,  and  with  his  brother  a  renegade  in  arms  against  him. 
The  great  liberator  of  our  German  race  stood  there,  with  every 
source  of  human  happiness  denied  him,  except  the  conscious- 
ness of  doing  his  duty  to  his  country. 

"  Back,  back  !  he  fears  not  foaming  flood 

Who  fears  not  steel-clad  line: 
No  warrior  thou  of  German  blood, 

No  brother  thou  of  mine. 
Go,  earn  Rome's  chain  to  load  thy  neck, 

Her  gems  to  deck  thy  hilt; 
And  blazon  honor's  hapless  wreck 

With  all  the  gauds  of  guilt ! 

"But  wouldst  thou  have  me  share  the  prey? 
By  all  that  I  huve  done — 
The  Varian  bones  that  day  by  day 
Lie  whitening  in  the  sun, 


ARMIXIUS.  135 

The  legion's  trampled  panoply, 

The  eagle's  shattered  wiug, — 
I  would  not  be  for  earth  or  sky 

So  scorned  and  mean  a  thing. 

•*  Ho !  call  me  here  the  wizard,  boy, 

Of  dark  and  subtle  skill, 
To  agonize  but  not  destroy. 

To  curse,  but  not  to  kill. 
When  swords  are  out,  and  shriek  and  shout 

Leave  little  room  for  prayer, 
No  fetter  on  man's  arm  or  heart 

Hangs  half  so  heavy  there. 

"  I  curse  him  by  the  gifts  the  land 

Hath  won  from  him  and  Rome— > 
The  riving  axe,  the  wasting  brand, 

Rent  forest,  blazing  home. 
I  curse  him  by  our  country's  gods, 

The  terrible,  the  dark, 
The  breakers  of  the  Roman  rods,' 

The  smiters  of  the  bark. 

"  0  misery,  that  such  a  ban 

On  such  a  brow  should  be ! 
Why  comes  he  not  in  battle's  van 

His  country's  chief  to  be? — 
To  stand  a  comrade  by  my  side, 

The  sharer  of  my  fame, 
And  worthy  of  a  brother's  pride 

And  of  a  brother's  name  ? 

"  But  it  is  past ! — where  heroes  press 

And  cowards  bend  the  knee 
Arminius  is  not  brotherless  ; 

His  brethren  are  the  free. 
They  come  around :  one  hour,  and  light 

Will  fade  from  turf  and  tide, 
Then  onward,  onward  to  the  fight 

With  darkness  for  our  guide. 

"  To-night,  to-night,  when  we  shall  meet 

In  combat  face  to  face, 
Then  only  would  Arminius  greet 

The  renegade's  embrace. 
The  canker  of  Rome's  guilt  shall  be 

Upon  his  dying  name ; 
And  as  he  lived  in  slavery, 

So  shall  he  fall  in  shame." 

On  the  day  after  the  Romans  had  reached  the  Weser,  Ger- 
manicus  led  his  army  across  that  river,  and  a  partial  encounter 
took  place,  in  which  Arminius  was  successful.     But  on  the 


136  ARMINIUS. 

succeeding  day  a  general  action  was  fought,  in  which  Arminius 
was  severely  wounded,  and  the  German  infantry  routed  with 
heavy  loss.  The  horsemen  of  the  two  armies  encountered  with- 
out either  party  gaining  the  advantage.  But  the  Roman  army 
remained  master  of  the  ground,  and  claimed  a  complete  victory. 
Germanicus  erected  a  trophy  in  the  field,  with  a  vaunting  in- 
scription, that  the  nations  between  the  Rhine  and  the  Elbe 
had  been  thoroughly  conquered  by  his  army.  But  that  army 
speedily  made  a  final  retreat  to  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine  ; 
nor  was  the  effect  of  their  campaign  more  durable  than  their 
trophy.  The  sarcasm  with  which  Tacitus  speaks  of  certain 
•ther  triumphs  of  Roman  generals  over  Germans  may  apply 
to  the  pageant  which  Germanicus  celebrated  on  his  return  to 
Rome  from  his  command  of  the  Roman  army  of  the  Rhine. 
The  Germans  were  "  triumphati  potius  quam  victV^ 

After  the  Romans  had  abandoned  their  attempts  on  Ger- 
many, we  find  Arminius  engaged  in  hostilities  with  Maroboduus, 
the  king  of  the  Suevi  and  Marcomanni,  who  was  endeavoring 
to  bring  the  other  German  tribes  into  a  state  of  dependency  on 
him.  Arminius  was  at  the  head  of  the  Germans  who  took  up 
arms  against  this  home  invader  of  their  liberties.  After  some 
minor  engagements,  a  pitched  battle  was  fought  between  the 
two  confederacies,  a.d.  16,  in  which  the  loss  on  each  side  was 
equal ;  but  Maroboduus  confessed  the  ascendency  of  his  an- 
tagonist by  avoiding  a  renewal  of  the  engagement,  and  by  im- 
ploring the  intervention  of  the  Romans  in  his  defence.  The 
younger  Drusus  then  commanded  the  Roman  legions  in  the 
province  of  Illyricum,  and  by  his  mediation  a  peace  was  con- 
cluded between  Armiaius  and  Maroboduus,  by  the  terms  of 
which  it  is  evident  that  the  latter  must  have  renounced  his 
ambitious  schemes  against  the  freedom  of  the  other  German 
tribes. 

Arminius  did  not  long  survive  this  second  war  of  indepen- 
dence, which  he  successfully  waged  for  his  country.  He  was 
assassinated  in  the  thirty-seventh  year  of  his  age  by  some  of 
his  own  kinsmen,  who  conspired  against  him.  Tacitus  says 
that  this  happened  while  he  was  engaged  in  a  civil  war,  which 
had  been  caused  by  his  attempts  to  make  himself  king  over 
his  countrymen.  It  is  far  more  probable  (as  one  of  the  best 
biographers*  of   Arminius    has    observed)  that   Tacitus    mis- 

*  Dr.  Plate,  in  Biographical  Dictionary  commenced  by  the  Society  for  the 
Diffusion  of  Useful  Knowledge. 


ARMimUS.  137 

understood  an  attempt  of  Arminius  to  extend  his  influence  as 
elective  war-chieftain  of  the  Cherusci  and  other  tribes  for  an 
attempt  to  obtain  the  royal  dignity.  When  we  remember  that 
his  father-in-law  and  his  brother  were  renegades,  we  can  well 
understand  that  a  party  among  his  kinsmen  may  have  been  bit- 
terly hostile  to  him,  and  have  opposed  his  authority  with  the 
tribe  by  open  violence,  and,  when  that  seemed  ineffectual,  by 
secret  assassination. 

Arminius  left  a  name  which  the  historians  of  the  nation 
against  which  he  combated  so  long  and  so  gloriously  have 
delighted  to  honor.  It  is  from  the  most  indisputable  source, 
from  the  lips  of  enemies,  that  we  know  his  exploits.*  His 
countrymen  made  history,  but  did  not  write  it.  But  his  mem- 
ory lived  among  them  in  the  lays  of  their  bards,  who  recorded 

"  The  deeds  he  did,  the  fields  he  won, 
The  freedom  he  restored." 

Tacitus,  many  years  after  the  death  of  Arminius,  Says  of  him, 
*'Canitur  adhuc  barbaras  apud  gentes."  As  time  passed  on, 
the  gratitude  of  ancient  Germany  to  her  great  deliverer  grew 
into  adoration,  and  divine  honors  were  paid  for  centuries  to 
Arminius  by  every  tribe  of  the  Low-Germanic  division  of  the 
Teutonic  races.  The  Irmin-sul,  or  the  column  of  Herman,  near 
Eresburg,  the  modern  Stadtberg,  was  the  chosen  object  of 
worship  to  the  descendants  of  the  Cherusci,  the  Old  Saxons, 
and  in  defence  of  which  they  fought  most  desperately  against 
Charlemagne  and  his  Christianized  Franks.  "  Irmin,  in  the 
cloudy  Olympus  of  Teutonic  belief,  appears  as  a  king  and  a 
warrior ;  and  the  pillar,  the  '  Irmin-sul,'  bearing  the  statue,  and 
considered  as  the  symbol  of  the  deity,  was  the  Palladium  of 
the  Saxon  nation,  until  the  temple  of  Eresburg  was  destroyed 
by  Charlemagne,  and  the  column  itself  transferred  to  the  mon- 
astery of  Corbey,  where,  perhaps,  a  portion  of  the  rude  rock  idol 
yet  remains,  covered  by  the  ornaments  of  the  Gothic  era."  f 

Traces  of  the  worship  of  Arminius  are  to  be  found  among 
our  Anglo-Saxon  ancestors,  after  their  settlements  in  this  isl- 
and. One  of  the  four  great  highways  was  held  to  be  under 
the  protection  of  the  deity,  and  was  called  the  "  Irmin-streeL" 
The  name  Arminius  is,  of  course,  the  mere  Latinized  form  of 
"  Herman,"  the  name  by  which  the  hero  and  the  deity  were 

*  See  Tacitus,  Ann.,  lib.  ii.,  sec.  88 ;  Velleius  Paterculus,  lib.  ii.,  sec.  118. 
\  "  Palgrave  on  the  English  Commonwealth,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  140. 


138  ARMINIUS. 

known  by  every  man  of  Low-German  blood,  on  either  side  of 
the  German  Sea.  It  means,  etymologically,  the  "  War-man," 
the  "man  of  hosts."  No  other  explanation  of  the  worship  of 
the  "  Irmin-sul,"  and  of  the  name  of  the  "  Irmin-street,"  is  so 
satisfactory  as  that  which  connects  them  with  the  deified  Ar- 
minius.  We  know  for  certain  of  the  existence  of  other  col- 
umns of  an  analogous  character.  Thus,  there  was  the  Roland- 
seule  in  North  Germany ;  there  was  a  Thor-seule  in  Sweden, 
and  (what  is  more  important)  there  was  an  Athelstan-seule  in 
Saxon  England.* 

There  is  at  the  present  moment  a  song  respecting  the  Irmin- 
sul  current  in  the  bishopric  of  Minden,  one  version  of  which 
might  seem  only  to  refer  to  Charlemagne  having  pulled  down 
the  Irmin-sul: 

"Herman,  sla  dermen, 
Sla  pi  pen,  sla  trummen, 
De  Kaiser  will  kummen, 
Met  hamer  un  stangen, 
Will  Herman  uphangen." 

But  there  is  another  version,  which  probably  is  the  oldest,  and 
which  clearly  refers  to  the  great  Arminius: 

"  Un  Herman  slaug  dermen ; 
Slaug  pipen,  slaug  trummen ; 
De  fursten  sind  kammen, 
Met  all  eren-mannen 
Hebt  Varus  uphangen."  f 

About  ten  centuries  and  a  half  after  the  demolition  of  the 
Irmin-sul,  and  nearly  eighteen  after  the  death  of  Arminius,  the 
modern  Germans  conceived  the  idea  of  rendering  tardy  hom- 
age to  their  great  hero ;  and,  accordingly,  some  eight  or  ten 
years  ago,  a  general  subscription  was  organized  in  Germany 
for  the  purpose  of  erecting,  on  the  Osning — a  conical  moun- 
tain, which  forms  the  highest  summit  of  the  Teutoberger 
Wald,  and  is  eighteen  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea 
— a  colossal  bronze  statue  of  Arminius.  The  statue  was  de- 
signed by  Bandel.  The  hero  was  to  stand  uplifting  a  sword 
in  his  right  hand,  and  looking  towards  the  Rhine.  The  height 
of  the  statue  was  to  be  eighty  feet  from  the  base  to  the  point 

*  See  Lappenburg's  "  Anglo-Saxons,"  p.  376.  For  nearly  all  the  philo- 
logical and  ethnographical  facts  respecting  Arminius,  I  am  indebted  to  Dr. 
R.  G.  Latham. 

f  See  Grimm,  "Deutsche  Mythologie,"  p.  329. 


ARMimUS.  139 

of  the  sword,  and  was  to  stand  on  a  circular  Gothic  temple, 
ninety  feet  high,  and  supported  by  oak  trees  as  columns.  The 
mountain,  where  it  was  to  be  erected,  is  wild  and  stern,  and 
overlooks  the  scene  of  the  battle.  It  was  calculated  that  the 
statue  would  be  clearly  visible  at  a  distance  of  sixty  miles.  The 
temple  is  nearly  finished,  and  the  statue  itself  has  been  cast 
at  the  copper -works  at  Lemgo.  But  there,  through  want  of 
funds  to  set  it  up,  it  has  lain  for  some  years,  in  disjointed 
fragments,  exposed  to  the  mutilating  homage  of  relic-seeking 
travellers.  The  idea  of  honoring  a  hero  who  belongs  to  all 
Germany  is  not  one  which  the  present  rulers  of  that  divided 
country  have  any  wish  to  encourage ;  and  the  statue  may  long 
continue  to  lie  there,  and  present  too  true  a  type  of  the  con- 
dition of  Germany  herself.* 

Surely  this  is  an  occasion  in  which  Englishmen  might  well 
prove,  by  acts  as  well  as  words,  that  we  also  rank  Arminius 
among  our  heroes. 

I  have  quoted  the  noble  stanzas  of  one  of  our  modern  Eng- 
lish poets  on  Arminius,  and  I  will  conclude  this  memoir  with 
one  of  the  odes  of  the  great  poet  of  modern  Germany,  Klop- 
stock,  on  the  victory  to  which  we  owe  our  freedom,  and  Ar- 
minius mainly  owes  his  fame.  Klopstock  calls  it  the  "Battle 
of  Winfield."  The  epithet  of  "Sister  of  Cannae"  shows  that 
Klopstock  followed  some  chronologers,  according  to  whom 
Varus  was  defeated  on  the  anniversary  of  the  day  on  which 
Paulus  and  Varro  were  defeated  by  Hannibal. 


SONG  OF   TRIUMPH   AFTER   THE  VICTORY  OF   HERRMAN,   THE 
DELIVERER   OF  GERMANY  FROM   THE  ROMANS. 

(from   KLOPSTOCK'S   "  HERRMAN   UND   DIE   FTJRSTEN.") 

Supposed  to  be  sung  by  a  Chorus  of  Bards. 

A   CHORUS. 

Sister  of  Cannae !f  Winfield'sJ  fight! 
We  saw  thee  with  thy  streaming  bloody  hair, 
With  fiery  eye,  bright  with  the  world's  despair, 
Sweep  by  Walhalla's  bards  from  out  our  sight. 

*  On  the  subject  of  this  statue  I  must  repeat  an  acknowledgment  of  my 
obligations  to  my  friend  Mr.  Henry  Pearson. 

f  The  battle  of  Cannas,  B.C.  216 — Hannibal's  victory  over  the  Romans. 
X  Winfield — the  probable  site  of  the  "  Herrmansschlachty    See  supra. 


140  ARMINIVS. 

Herrman  outspake — *'  Now  Victory  or  Death  P* 
The  Romans,  .  .  .  "Victory!" 
And  onward  rushed  their  eagles  with  the  cry, 
— So  ended  the  Jirst  day. 

"  Victory  or  Death !"  began 

Then,  first,  the  Roman  chief ;  and  Herrman  spake 
Not,  but  home  struck :  the  eagles  fluttered — brake. 
— So  sped  the  second  day. 

TWO   CHORUSES. 

And  the  third  came.  .  .  .  The  cry  was  "Flight  or  Death!'* 
Flight  left  they  not  for  them  who'd  make  them  slaves — 
Men  who  stab  children! — flight  for  tJiem!  ...  no!  graves! 
— 'Twas  their  last  day. 

TWO  BARDS. 

Yet  spared  they  messengers:  two  came  to  Rome. 
How  drooped  the  plume!  the  lance  was  left  to  trail 
Down  in  the  dust  behind;  their  cheek  was  pale: 
So  came  the  messengers  to  Rome. 

High  in  his  hall  the  Imperator  sate — 
Octavianus  Ccesar  Augustics  sate. 
They  filled  up  wine-cups,  wine-cups  filled  they  up 
For  him  the  highest,  Jove  of  all  their  state. 

The  flutes  of  Lydia  hushed  before  their  voice, 
Before  the  messengers — the  "Highest"  sprung — 
The  god*  against  the  marble  pillars,  wrung 
By  the  dread  words,  striking  his  brow,  and  thrice 
Cried  he  aloud  in  anguish,  "  Varus !  Varus ! 
Give  back  my  legions,  Varus !" 

And  now  the  world-wide  conquerors  shrunk  and  feared 
For  fatherland  and  home 

The  lance  to  raise;  and  'mongst  those  false  to  Rome 
The  death-lot  rolled,|  and  still  they  shrunk  and  feared; 

"For  she  her  face  hath  turned. 

The  victor  goddess,"  cried  these  cowards  (for  aye 

Be  it !)  "  from  Rome  and  Romans,  and  her  day 

Is  done!"     And  still  he  mourned. 

And  cried  aloud  in  anguish,  "Varus!  Varus! 

Give  back  my  legions,  Varus !"  f 

*  Augustus  was  worshipped  as  a  deity  in  his  lifetime, 
f  See  supra,  pp.  129, 130. 

1 1  have  taken  this  translation  from  an  anonymous  writer  in  Fraser,  two 
years  ago. 


SYNOPSIS  OF  EVENTS,  141 


SYNOPSIS   OF   EVENTS    BETWEEN   ARMINIUS'S   VICTORY    OVER 
VARUS  AND  THE  BATTLE  OF  CHALONS. 

A.D.  43.  The  Romans  commence  the  conquest  of  Britain, 
Claudius  being  then  Emperor  of  Rome.  The  population  of  thigi 
island  was  then  Celtic.  In  about  forty  years  all  the  tribes  south 
of  the  Clyde  were  subdued,  and  their  land  made  a  Roman  prov- 
ince. 

58  to  60.  Successful  campaigns  of  the  Roman  general  Cor- 
bula  against  the  Parthians. 

64.  First  persecution  of  the  Christians  at  Rome  under  Nero. 

68  to  70.  Civil  wars  in  the  Roman  world.  The  emperors 
Nero,  Galba,  Otho,  and  Vitellius  cut  off  successively  by  violent 
deaths.     Vespasian  becomes  emperor. 

70.  Jerusalem  destroyed  by  the  Romans  under  Titus. 

83.  Futile  attack  of  Domitian  on  the  Germans. 

86.  Beginning  of  the  wars  between  the  Romans  and  the 
Dacians. 

98  to  117.  Trajan  emperor  of  Rome.  Under  him  the  em- 
pire acquires  its  greatest  territorial  extent  by  his  conquests  in 
Dacia  and  in  the  East.  His  successor,  Hadrian,  abandons  the 
provinces  beyond  the  Euphrates,  which  Trajan  had  conquered. 

138  to  180.  Era  of  the  Antonines. 

167  to  176.  A  long  and  desperate  war  between  Rome  and  a 
great  confederacy  of  the  German  nations.  Marcus  Antoninus 
at  last  succeeds  in  repelling  them. 

192  to  197.  Civil  wars  throughout  the  Roman  world.  Severus 
becomes  emperor.  He  relaxes  the  discipline  of  the  soldiers. 
After  his  death  in  211,  the  series  of  military  insurrections,  civil 
wars,  and  murders  of  emperors  recommences. 

226.  Artaxerxes  (Ardisheer)  overthrows  the  Parthian  and  re- 
stores the  Persian  kingdom  in  Asia.  He  attacks  the  Roman 
possessions  in  the  East. 

250.  The  Goths  invade  the  Roman  provinces.  The  emperor 
Decius  is  defeated  and  slain  by  them. 

253  to  260.  The  Franks  and  Alemanni  invade  Gaul,  Spain,  and 
Africa.  The  Goths  attack  Asia  Minor  and  Greece.  The  Per- 
sians conquer  Armenia.  Their  king.  Sapor,  defeats  the  Roman 
emperor  Valerian,  and  takes  him  prisoner.  General  distress  of 
the  Roman  empire. 

268  to  283.  The  emperors  Claudius,  Aurelian,  Tacitus,  Pro- 


142  SVJVOrSIS  OF  EVENTS. 

bus,  and  Carus  defeat  the  various  enemies  of  Rome,  and  restore 
order  in  the  Roman  state. 

285.  Diocletian  divides  and  reorganizes  the  Roman  empire. 
After  his  abdication  in  305  a  fresh  series  of  civil  wars  and  con- 
fusion ensues.  Constantine,  the  first  Christian  emperor,  reunites 
the  empire  in  324. 

330.  Constantine  makes  Constantinople  the  seat  of  empire  in- 
stead of  Rome. 

363.  The  emperor  Julian  is  killed  in  action  against  the  Per- 
sians. 

364  to  375.  The  empire  is  again  divided,  Valentinian  being 
emperor  of  the  West,  and  Valens  of  the  East.  Valentinian 
repulses  the  Alemanni,  and  other  German  invaders  from  Gaul. 
Splendor  of  the  Gothic  kingdom  under  Hermanric,  north  of  the 
Danube. 

375  to  395.  The  Huns  attack  the  Goths,  who  implore  the  pro- 
tection of  the  Roman  emperor  of  the  East.  The  Goths  are  al- 
lowed to  pass  the  Danube,  and  to  settle  in  the  Roman  provinces. 
A  war  soon  breaks  out  between  them  and  the  Romans,  and  the 
emperor  Valens  and  his  army  are  destroyed  by  them.  They 
ravage  the  Roman  territories.  The  emperor  Theodosius  reduces 
them  to  submission.  They  retain  settlements  in  Thrace  and 
Asia  Minor. 

395.  Final  division  of  the  Roman  empire  between  Arcadius 
and  Honorius,  the  two  sons  of  Theodosius.  The  Goths  revolt, 
and  under  Alaric  attack  various  parts  of  both  the  Roman  em- 
pires. 

410.  Alaric  takes  the  city  of  Rome. 

412.  The  Goths  march  into  Gaul,  and  in  414  into  Spain,  which 
had  been  already  invaded  by  hosts  of  Vandals,  Suevi,  Alani,  and 
other  Germanic  nations.  Britain  is  formally  abandoned  by  the 
Roman  emperor  of  the  West. 

428.  Genseric,  king  of  the  Vandals,  conquers  the  Roman  prov- 
ince of  North  Africa. 

441.  The  Huns  attack  the  Eastern  empire. 


BATTLE  OF  CHALONS.  143 


CHAPTER   VI. 

THE    BATTLE    OF    CHALONS,    A.D.    451. 

"The  discomfiture  of  the  mighty  attempt  of  Attila  to  found  a  new  anti- 
Christian  dynasty  upon  the  wreck  of  the  temporal  power  of  Rome,  at  the  end 
of  the  terra  of  twelve  hundred  years,  to  which  its  duration  had  been  limited 
by  the  forebodings  of  the  heathen," — Herbert. 

A  BROAD  expanse  of  plains,  the  Campi  Catalaunici  of  the  an- 
cients, spreads  far  and  wide  around  the  city  of  Chalons,  in  the 
northeast  of  France.  The  long  rows  of  poplars  through  which 
the  river  Marne  winds  its  way,  and  a  few  thinly  scattered  vil- 
lages, are  almost  the  only  objects  that  vary  the  monotonous  as- 
pect of  the  greater  part  of  this  region.  But  about  five  miles 
from  Chalons,  near  the  little  hamlets  of  Chape  and  Cuperly, 
the  ground  is  indented  and  heaped  up  in  ranges  of  grassy 
mounds  and  trenches,  which  attest  the  work  of  man^s  hand  in 
ages  past;  and  which,  to  the  practised  eye,  demonstrate  that  this 
quiet  spot  has  once  been  the  fortified  position  of  a  huge  military 
host. 

Local  tradition  gives  to  these  ancient  earthworks  the  name  of 
Attila's  Camp.  Nor  is  there  any  reason  to  question  the  correct- 
ness of  the  title,  or  to  doubt  that  behind  these  very  ramparts  it 
was  that,  1400  years  ago,  the  most  powerful  heathen  king  that 
ever  ruled  in  Europe  mustered  the  remnants  of  his  vast  army, 
which  had  striven  on  these  plains  against  the  Christian  soldiery 
of  Toulouse  and  Rome.  Here  it  was  that  Attila  prepared  to 
resist  to  the  death  his  victors  in  the  field ;  and  here  he  heaped 
up  the  treasures  of  his  camp  in  one  vast  pile,  which  was  to  be 
his  funeral  pyre  should  his  camp  be  stormed.  It  was  here  that 
the  Gothic  and  Italian  forces  watched,  but  dared  not  assail  their 
enemy  in  his  despair,  after  that  great  and  terrible  day  of  battle, 
when 

"The  sound 
Of  conflict  was  o'erpast,  the  shout  of  all 
Whom  earth  could  send  from  her  remotest  bounds, 
Heathen  or  faithful; — from  thy  hundred  mouths, 
That  feed  the  Caspian  with  Riphean  snows, 


144  BATTLE  OF  CHALONS. 

Huge  Volga !  from  famed  Hypanis,  which  once 
Cradled  the  Hun;  from  all  the  countless  realms 
Between  Imaus  and  that  utmost  strand 
Where  columns  of  Herculean  rock  confront 
The  blown  Atlantic ;  Roman,  Goth,  and  Hun, 
And  Scythian  strength  of  chivalry,  that  tread 
The  cold  Codanian  shore,  or  what  far  lands 
Inhospitable  drink  Cimmerian  floods, 
Franks,  Saxons,  Suevic,  and  Sarmatian  chiefs, 
And  who  from  green  Armorica  or  Spain 
Flocked  to  the  work  of  death."  * 

The  victory  which  the  Roman  general  Aetius,  with  his  Gothic 
allies,  had  then  gained  over  the  Huns  was  the  last  victory  of 
Imperial  Rome.  But  among  the  long  Fasti  of  her  triumphs,  few 
can  be  found  that,  for  their  importance  and  ultimate  benefit  to 
mankind,  are  comparable  with  this  expiring  effort  of  her  arms. 
It  did  not,  indeed,  open  to  her  any  new  career  of  conquest ;  it 
did  not  consolidate  the  relics  of  her  power ;  it  did  not  turn  the 
rapid  ebb  of  her  fortunes.  The  mission  of  Imperial  Rome  was, 
in  truth,  already  accomplished.  She  had  received  and  transmit- 
ted through  her  once  ample  dominion  the  civilization  of  Greece. 
She  had  broken  up  the  barriers  of  narrow  nationalities  among 
the  various  states  and  tribes  that  dwelt  around  the  coast  of  the 
Mediterranean.  She  had  fused  these  and  many  other  races  into 
one  organized  empire,  bound  together  by  a  community  of  laws, 
of  government,  and  institutions.  Under  the  shelter  of  her  full 
power  the  True  Faith  had  arisen  in  the  earth,  and  during  the 
years  of  her  decline  it  had  been  nourished  to  maturity,  and  had 
overspread  all  the  provinces  that  ever  obeyed  her  sway.f  For 
no  beneficial  purpose  to  mankind  could  the  dominion  of  the 
seven-hilled  city  have  been  restored  or  prolonged.  But  it  was 
all-important  to  mankind  what  nations  should  divide  among 
them  Rome's  rich  inheritance  of  empire :  whether  the  Germanic 
and  Gothic  warriors  should  form  states  and  kingdoms  out  of  the 
fragments  of  her  dominions,  and  become  the  free  members  of 
the  commonwealth  of  Christian  Europe ;  or  whether  pagan  sav- 
ages from  the  wilds  of  Central  Asia  should  crush  the  relics  of 
classic  civilization,  and  the  early  institutions  of  the  Christian- 
ized Germans,  in  one  hopeless  chaos  of  barbaric  conquest.  The 
Christian  Visigoths  of  King  Theodoric  fought  and  triumphed 
at  Chalons  side  by  side  with  the  legions  of  Aetius.    Their  joint 

*  Herbert's  "  Attila,"  book  i.,  line  18. 

f  See  the  Introduction  to  Ranke's  "  History  of  the  Popes." 


BATTLE  OF  CHALONS.  145 

victory  over  the  Hunnish  host  not  only  rescued  for  a  time  from 
destruction  the  old  age  of  Rome,  but  preserved  for  centuries  of 
power  and  glory  the  Germanic  element  in  the  civilization  of 
modern  Europe. 

In  order  to  estimate  the  full  importance  to  mankind  of  the 
battle  of  Chalons,  we  must  keep  steadily  in  mind  who  and  what 
the  Germans  were,  and  the  important  distinctions  between  them 
and  the  numerous  other  races  that  assailed  the  Roman  empire ; 
and  it  is  to  be  understood  that  the  Gothic  and  the  Scandinavian 
nations  are  included  in  the  German  race.  Now,  "in  two  re- 
markable traits  the  Germans  differed  from  the  Sarmatic  as  well 
as  from  the  Slavic  nations,  and,  indeed,  from  all  those  other 
races  to  whom  the  Greeks  and  Romans  gave  the  designation  of 
barbarians.  I  allude  to  their  personal  freedom  and  regards  for 
the  rights  of  men ;  secondly,  to  the  respect  paid  by  them  to  the 
female  sex,  and  the  chastity  for  which  the  latter  were  celebrated 
among  the  people  of  the  North.  These  were  the  foundations 
of  that  probity  of  character,  self-respect,  and  purity  of  manners 
which  may  be  traced  among  the  Germans  and  Goths  even  dur- 
ing pagan  times,  and  which,  when  their  sentiments  were  en- 
lightened by  Christianity,  brought  out  those  splendid  traits  of 
character  which  distinguished  the  age  of  chivalry  and  romance."  * 
What  the  intermixture  of  the  German  stock  with  the  classic,  at 
the  fall  of  the  Western  Empire,  has  done  for  mankind  may  be 
best  felt  by  watching,  with  Arnold,  over  how  large  a  portion  of 
the  earth  the  influence  of  the  German  element  is  now  extended. 

"  It  affects,  more  or  less,  the  whole  west  of  Europe,  from  the 
head  of  the  Gulf  of  Bothnia  to  the  most  southern  promontory  of 
Sicily,  from  the  Oder  and  the  Adriatic  to  the  Hebrides  and  to 
Lisbon.  It  is  true  that  the  language  spoken  over  a  large  por- 
tion of  this  space  is  not  predominantly  German  ;  but  even  in 
France,  and  Italy,  and  Spain,  the  influence  of  the  Franks,  Bur- 
gundians,  Visigoths,  Ostrogoths,  and  Lombards,  while  it  has 
colored  even  the  language,  has  in  blood  and  institutions  left  its 
mark  legibly  and  indelibly.  Germany,  the  Low  Countries, 
Switzerland  for  the  most  part,  Denmark,  Norway,  and  Sweden, 
and  our  own  islands,  are  all  in  language,  in  blood,  and  in  insti- 
tutions, German  most  decidedly.  But  all  South  America  is 
peopled  with  Spaniards  and  Portuguese  ;  all  North  America,  and 
all  Australia,  with  Englishmen.     I  say  nothing  of  the  prospects 

*  See  Prichard's  "  Researches  into  the  Physical  History  of  Mankind,"  vol. 
iii.,  p.  423. 


146  BATTLE  OF  CHALONS. 

and  influence  of  the  German  race  in  Africa  and  in  India :  it  is 
enough  to  say  that  half  of  Europe,  and  all  America  and  Aus- 
tralia, are  German,  more  or  less  completely,  in  race,  in  language, 
or  in  institutions,  or  in  all."  * 

By  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century,  Germanic  nations  had  set- 
tled themselves  in  many  of  the  fairest  regions  of  the  Roman  em- 
pire, had  imposed  their  yoke  on  the  provincials,  and  had  un- 
dergone, to  a  considerable  extent,  that  moral  conquest  which 
the  arts  and  refinements  of  the  vanquished  in  arms  have  so 
often  achieved  over  the  rough  victor.  The  Visigoths  held  the 
north  of  Spain  and  Gaul  south  of  the  Loire.  Franks,  Alemanni, 
Alans,  and  Burgundians  had  established  themselves  in  other 
Gallic  provinces,  and  the  Suevi  were  masters  of  a  large  southern 
portion  of  the  Spanish  peninsula.  A  king  of  the  Yandals 
reigned  in  North  Africa,  and  the  Ostrogoths  had  firmly  planted 
themselves  in  the  provinces  north  of  Italy.  Of  these  powers  and 
principalities,  that  of  the  Visigoths,  under  their  king  Theodoric, 
son  of  Alaric,  was  by  far  the  first  in  power  and  in  civilization. 

The  pressure  of  the  Huns  upon  Europe  had  first  been  felt  in 
the  fourth  century  of  our  era.  They  had  long  been  formidable 
to  the  Chinese  empire ;  but  the  ascendency  in  arms  which 
another  nomadic  tribe  of  Central  Asia,  the  Sienpi,  gained  over 
them,  drove  the  Huns  from  their  Chinese  conquests  westward; 
and  this  movement  once  being  communicated  to  the  whole  chain 
of  barbaric  nations  that  dwelt  northward  of  the  Black  Sea  and 
the  Roman  empire,  tribe  after  tribe  of  savage  warriors  broke  in 
upon  the  barriers  of  civilized  Europe,  "velut  unda  supervenit 
undam."  The  Huns  crossed  the  Tanais  into  Europe  in  375,  and 
rapidly  reduced  to  subjection  the  Alans,  the  Ostrogoths,  and 
other  tribes  that  were  then  dwelling  along  the  course  of  the 
Danube.  The  armies  of  the  Roman  emperor  that  tried  to  check 
their  progress  were  cut  to  pieces  by  them ;  and  Pannonia  and 
other  provinces  south  of  the  Danube  were  speedily  occupied  by 
the  victorious  cavalry  of  these  new  invaders.  Not  merely  the 
degenerate  Romans,  but  the  bold  and  hardy  warriors  of  Ger- 
many and  Scandinavia  were  appalled  at  the  numbers,  the  feroc- 
ity, the  ghastly  appearance,  and  the  lightning-like  rapidity  of 
the  Huns.  Strange  and  loathsome  legends  were  coined  and 
credited  which  attributed  their  origin  to  the  union  of 

"  Secret,  black,  and  midnight  hags  " 

wifh  the  evil  spirits  of  the  wilderness. 

*  Arnold's  "  Lectures  on  Modern  History,"  p.  36. 


BATTLE  OF  CHALONS.  147 

Tribe  after  tribe,  and  city  after  city,  fell  before  them.  Then 
came  a  pause  in  their  career  of  conquest  in  Southwestern  Eu- 
rope, caused  probably  by  dissensions  among  their  chiefs,  and 
also  by  their  arms  being  employed  in  attacks  upon  the  Scandi- 
navian nations.  But  when  Attila  (or  Atzel,  as  he  is  called  in 
the  Hungjarian  language)  became  their  ruler,  the  torrent  of  their 
arms  was  directed  with  augmented  terrors  upon  the  west  and 
the  south  ;  and  their  myriads  marched  beneath  the  guidance  of 
one  master-mind  to  the  overthrow  both  of  the  new  and  the  old 
powers  of  the  earth. 

Recent  events  have  thrown  such  a  strong  interest  over  every- 
thing connected  with  the  Hungarian  name  that  even  the  ter- 
rible name  of  Attila  now  impresses  us  the  more  vividly  through 
our  sympathizing  admiration  of  the  exploits  of  those  who  claim 
to  be  descended  from  his  warriors,  and  "  ambitiously  insert  the 
name  of  Attila  among  their  native  kings."  The  authenticity  of 
this  martial  genealogy  is  denied  by  some  writers,  and  questioned 
by  more.  But  it  is  at  least  certain  that  the  Magyars  of  Arpad, 
who  are  the  immediate  ancestors  of  the  bulk  of  the  modern 
Hungarians,  and  who  conquered  the  country  which  bears  the 
name  of  Hungary  in  a.d.  889,  were  of  the  same  stock  of  man- 
kind as  were  the  Huns  of  Attila,  even  if  they  did  not  belong  to 
the  same  subdivision  of  that  stock.  Nor  is  there  any  improba- 
bility in  the  tradition,  that  after  Attila's  death  many  of  his 
warriors  remained  in  Hungary,  and  that  their  descendants  after- 
wards joined  the  Huns  of  Arpad  in  their  career  of  conquest.  It 
is  certain  that  x\ttila  made  Hungary  the  seat  of  his  empire. 
It  seems  also  susceptible  of  clear  proof  that  the  territory  was 
then  called  Hungvar,  and  Attila's  soldiers  Hungvari.  Both  the 
Huns  of  Attila  and  those  of  Arpad  came  from  the  family  of 
nomadic  nations  whose  primitive  regions  were  those  vast  wil- 
dernesses of  High  Asia  which  are  included  between  the  Altaic 
and  the  Himalayan  mountain-chains.  The  inroads  of  these 
tribes  upon  the  lower  regions  of  Asia  and  into  Europe  have 
caused  many  of  the  most  remarkable  revolutions  in  the  history 
of  the  world.  There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  swarms  of 
these  nations  made  their  way  into  distant  parts  of  the  earth,  at 
periods  long  before  the  date  of  the  Scythian  invasion  of  Asia, 
which  is  the  earliest  inroad  of  the  nomadic  race  that  history  re- 
cords. The  first,  as  far  as  we  can  conjecture  in  respect  to  the 
time  of  their  descent,  were  the  Finnish  and  Ugrian  tribes,  who 
appear  to  have  come  down  from  the  Altaic  border. of  High  Asia 
towards  the  northwest,  in  which  direction  they  advanced  to  the 


148  BATTLE  OF  CHALONS, 

UraHan  mountains.  There  they  established  themselves ;  and  that 
mountain-chain,  with  its  valleys  and  pasture-lands,  became  to 
them  a  new  country,  whence  they  sent  out  colonies  on  every 
side.  But  the  Ugrian  colony  which  under  Arpad  occupied  Hun- 
gary, and  became  the  ancestors  of  the  bulk  of  the  present 
Hungarian  nation,  did  not  quit  their  settlements  on  the  Uralian 
mountains  till  a  very  late  period — not  until  four  centuries  after 
the  time  when  Attila  led  from  the  primary  seats  of  the  nomadic 
races  in  High  Asia  the  host  with  which  he  advanced  into  the 
heart  of  France.*  That  host  was  Turkish  ;  but  closely  allied  in 
origin,  language,  and  habits  with  the  Finno-Ugrian  settlers  on 
the  Ural. 

Attila's  fame  has  not  come  down  to  us  through  the  partial 
and  suspicious  medium  of  chroniclers  and  poets  of  his  own  race. 
It  is  not  from  Hunnish  authorities  that  we  learn  the  extent  of 
his  might:  it  is  from  his  enemies,  from  the  literature  and  the 
legends  of  the  nations  whom  he  aflBicted  with  his  arms,  that  we 
draw  the  unquestionable  evidence  of  his  greatness.  Besides  the 
express  narratives  of  Byzantine,  Latin,  and  Gothic  writers,  we 
have  the  strongest  proof  of  the  stern  reality  of  Attila's  con- 
quests in  the  extent  to  which  he  and  his  Huns  have  been  the 
themes  of  the  earliest  German  and  Scandinavian  lays.  Wild  as 
many  of  these  legends  are,  they  bear  concurrent  and  certain  tes- 
timony to  the  awe  with  which  the  memory  of  Attila  was  re- 
garded by  the  bold  warriors  who  composed  and  delighted  in 
them.  Attila's  exploits,  and  the  wonders  of  his  unearthly  steed 
and  magic  sword,  repeatedly  occur  in  the  Sagas  of  Norway  and 
Iceland ;  and  the  celebrated  Nibelungenlied,  the  most  ancient 
of  Germanic  poetry,  is  full  of  them.  There  Etsel,  or  Attila,  is 
described  as  the  wearer  of  twelve  mighty  crowns,  and  as  promis- 
ing to  his  bride  the  lands  of  thirty  kings,  whom  his  irresistible 
sword  has  subdued.  He  is,  in  fact,  the  hero  of  the  latter  part 
of  this  remarkable  poem ;  and  it  is  at  his  capital  city,  Etselen- 
burgh,  which  evidently  corresponds  to  the  modern  Buda,  that 
much  of  its  action  takes  place. 

When  we  turn  from  the  legendary  to  the  historic  Attila,  we 
see  clearly  that  he  was  not  one  of  the  vulgar  herd  of  barbaric 
conquerors.  Consummate  military  skill  may  be  traced  in  his 
campaigns ;  and  he  relied  far  less  on  the  brute  force  of  armies 
for  the  aggrandizement  of  his  empire  than  on  the  unbounded 
influence  over  the  affections  of  friends  and  the  fears  of  foes 

i      *See  Prichard's  "Researclies  into  the  Physical  History  of  Mankind." 


BATTLE  OF  CHALONS.  149 

which  his  genius  enabled  him  to  acquire.  Austerely  sober  in 
his  private  life  ;  severely  just  on  the  judgment-seat ;  conspicuous 
among  a  nation  of  warriors  for  hardihood,  strength,  and  skill  in 
every  martial  exercise  ;  grave  and  deliberate  in  counsel,  but  rapid 
and  remorseless  in  execution — he  gave  safety  and  security  to  all 
who  were  under  his  dominion,  while  he  waged  a  warfare  of  ex- 
termination against  all  who  opposed  or  sought  to  escape  from  it. 
He  watched  the  national  passions,  the  prejudices,  the  creeds, 
and  the  superstitions  of  the  varied  nations  over  which  he  ruled 
and  of  those  which  he  sought  to  reduce  beneath  his  sway :  all 
these  feelings  he  had  the  skill  to  turn  to  his  own  account.  His 
own  warriors  believed  him  to  be  the  inspired  favorite  of  their 
deities,  and  followed  him  with  fanatic  zeal.  His  enemies  looked 
on  him  as  the  pre-appointed  minister  of  Heaven's  wrath  against 
themselves ;  and,  though  they  believed  not  in  his  creed,  their 
own  made  them  tremble  before  him. 

In  one  of  his  early  campaigns  he  appeared  before  his  troops 
with  an  ancient  iron  sword  in  his  grasp,  which  he  told  them  was 
the  god  of  war  whom  their  ancestors  had  worshipped.  It  is 
certain  that  the  nomadic  tribes  of  Northern  Asia,  whom  Herod- 
otus described  under  the  name  of  Scythians,  from  the  earliest 
times  worshipped  as  their  god  a  bare  sword.  That  sword-god 
was  supposed,  in  Attila's  time,  to  have  disappeared  from  earth ; 
but  the  Hunnish  king  now  claimed  to  have  received  it  by  spe- 
cial revelation.  It  was  said  that  a  herdsman,  who  was  tracking 
in  the  desert  a  wounded  heifer  by  the  drops  of  blood,  found  the 
mysterious  sword  standing  fixed  in  the  ground,  as  if  it  had  been 
darted  down  from  heaven.  The  herdsman  bore  it  to  Attila,  who 
thenceforth  was  believed  by  the  Huns  to  wield  the  Spirit  of 
Death  in  battle ;  and  the  seers  prophesied  that  that  sword  was 
to  destroy  the  world.  A  Roman,*  who  was  on  an  embassy  to 
the  Hunnish  camp,  recorded  in  his  memoirs  Attila's  acquisition 
of  this  supernatural  weapon,  and  the  immense  influence  over  the 
minds  of  the  barbaric  tribes  which  its  possession  gave  him.  In 
the  title  which  he  assumed,  we  shall  see  the  skill  with  which  he 
availed  himself  of  the  legends  and  creeds  of  other  nations  as 
well  as  of  his  own.  He  designated  himself  "  Attila,  Descend- 
ant of  the  Great  Nimrod.  Nurtured  in  Engaddi.  By  the 
grace  of  God,  King  of  the  Huns,  the  Goths,  the  Danes,  and  the 
Medes.     The  Dread  of  the  World." 

Herbert  states  that  Attila  is  represented  on  an  old  medallion 

*  Priscus. 


160  BATTLE  OF  CHALONS. 

with  a  teraphim,  or  a  head,  on  his  breast ;  and  the  same  writer 
adds :  "  We  know,  from  the  '  Hamartigenea '  of  Prudentius,  that 
Nimrod,  with  a  snaky -haired  head,  was  the  object  of  adoration 
to  the  heretical  followers  of  Marcion ;  and  the  same  head  was 
the  palladium  set  up  by  Antiochus  Epiphanes  over  the  gates  of 
Antioch,  though  it  has  been  called  the  visage  of  Charon.  The 
memory  of  Nimrod  was  certainly  regarded  with  mystic  venera- 
tion by  many ;  and  by  asserting  himself  to  be  the  heir  of  that 
mighty  hunter  before  the  Lord,  he  vindicated  to  himself  at  least 
the  whole  Babylonian  kingdom. 

"  The  singular  assertion  in  his  style,  that  he  was  nurtured  in 
Engaddi,  where  he  certainly  had  never  been,  will  be  more  easily 
understood  on  reference  to  the  twelfth  chapter  of  the  Book  of 
Revelation,  concerning  the  women  clothed  with  the  sun,  who 
was  to  bring  forth  in  the  wilderness — '  where  she  hath  a  place 
prepared  of  God' — a  man-child,  who  was  to  contend  with  the 
dragon  having  seven  heads  and  ten  horns,  and  rule  all  nations 
with  a  rod  of  iron.  This  prophecy  was  at  that  time  understood 
universally  by  the  sincere  Christians  to  refer  to  the  birth  of 
Constantine,  who  was  to  overwhelm  the  paganism  of  the  city  on 
the  seven  hills,  and  it  is  still  so  explained,;  but  it  is  evident  that 
the  heathens  must  have  looked  on  it  in  a  different  light,  and 
have  regarded  it  as  a  foretelling  of  the  birth  of  that  Great  One 
who  should  master  the  temporal  power  of  Rome.  The  asser- 
tion, therefore,  that  he  was  nurtured  in  Engaddi  is  a  claim  to 
be  looked  upon  as  that  man-child  who  was  to  be  brought  forth 
in  a  place  prepared  of  God  in  the  wilderness.  Engaddi  means 
a  place  of  palms  and  vines,  in  the  desert ;  it  was  hard  by  Zoar, 
the  city  of  refuge,  which  was  saved  in  the  vale  of  Siddim,  or 
Demons,  when  the  rest  was  destroyed  by  fire  and  brimstone 
from  the  Lord  in  heaven,  and  might  therefore  be  especially 
called  a  place  prepared  of  God  in  the  wilderness." 

It  is  obvious  enough  why  he  styled  himself  "  By  the  grace  of 
God,  King  of  the  Huns  and  Goths ;"  and  it  seems  far  from  dif- 
ficult to  see  why  he  added  the  names  of  the  Medes  and  the 
Danes.  His  armies  had  been  engaged  in  warfare  against  the 
Persian  kingdom  of  the  Sassanidae ;  and  it  is  certain  *  that  he 
meditated  the  attack  and  overthrow  of  the  Medo-Persian  power. 
Probably  some  of  the  northern  provinces  of  that  kingdom  had 
been  compelled  to  pay  him  tribute  ;  and  this  would  account  for 
his  styling  himself  King  of  the  Medes,  they  being  his  remotest 

♦  See  the  narrative  of  Priscus. 


BATTLE  OF  CHALONS.  151 

subjects  to  the  south.  From  a  similar  cause  he  may  have  called 
himself  King  of  the  Danes,  as  his  power  may  well  have  extend- 
ed northwards  as  far  as  the  nearest  of  the  Scandinavian  nations ; 
and  this  mention  of  Medes  and  Danes  as  his  subjects  would 
serve  at  once  to  indicate  the  vast  extent  of  his  dominion.* 

The  extensive  territory  north  of  the  Danube  and  Black  Sea, 
and  eastward  of  Caucasus,  over  which  Attila  ruled,  first  in  con- 
junction with  his  brother  Bleda,  and  afterwards  alone,  cannot 
be  very  accurately  defined ;  but  it  must  have  comprised  within 
it,  besides  the  Huns,  many  nations  of  Slavic,  Gothic,  Teutonic, 
and  Finnish  origin.  South  also  of  the  Danube,  the  country 
from  the  river  Sau  as  far  as  Novi  in  Thrace  was  a  Hunnish  prov- 
ince. Such  was  the  empire  of  the  Huns  in  a.d.  445 ;  a  mem- 
orable year,  in  which  Attila  founded  Buda  on  the  Danube  as 
his  capital  city ;  and  ridded  himself  of  his  brother  by  a  crime, 
which  seems  to  have  been  prompted  not  only  by  selfish  ambi- 
tion, but  also  by  a  desire  of  turning  to  his  purpose  the  legends 
and  forebodings  which  then  were  universally  spread  throughout 
the  Roman  empire,  and  must  have  been  well  known  to  the  watch- 
ful and  ruthless  Hun. 

The  year  445  of  our  era  completed  the  twelfth  century  from 
the  foundation  of  Rome,  according  to  the  best  chronologers.  It 
had  always  been  believed  among  the  Romans  that  the  twelve 
vultures  which  were  said  to  have  appeared  to  Romulus  when  he 
founded  the  city  signified  the  time  during  which  the  Roman 
power  should  endure.  The  twelve  vultures  denoted  twelve  cen- 
turies. This  interpretation  of  the  vision  of  the  birds  of  destiny 
was  current  among  learned  Romans,  even  when  there  were  yet 
many  of  the  twelve  centuries  to  run,  and  while  the  imperial  city 
was  at  the  zenith  of  its  power.  But  as  the  allotted  time  drew 
nearer  and  nearer  to  its  conclusion,  and  as  Rome  grew  weaker 
and  weaker  beneath  the  blows  of  barbaric  invaders,  the  terrible 
omen  was  more  and  more  talked  and  thought  of ;  and  in  Atti- 
la's  time  men  watched  for  the  momentary  extinction  of  the 
Roman  state  with  the  last  beat  of  the  last  vulture's  wing.  More- 
over, among  the  numerous  legends  connected  with  the  founda- 
tion of  the  city,  and  the  fratricidal  death  of  Remus,  there  was 
one  most  terrible  one,  which  told  that  Romulus  did  not  put  his 
brother  to  death  in  accident,  or  in  hasty  quarrel,  but  that 

*  In  the  "  Nibelungenlied,"  the  old  poet  who  describes  the  reception  of 
the  heroine  Chrimhild  by  Attila  (Etsel)  says  that  Attila's  dominions  were  so 
vast  that  among  his  subject-warriors  there  were  Russian,  Greek,  Wallachian, 
Polish,  and  even  Danish  knights. 


152  BATTLE  OF  CHALONS. 

"  He  slew  his  gallant  twin 
With  inexpiable  sin," 

deliberately,  and  in  compliance  with  the  warnings  of  supernat- 
ural powers.  The  shedding  of  a  brother's  blood  was  believed 
to  have  been  the  price  at  which  the  founder  of  Rome  had  pur- 
chased from  destiny  her  twelve  centuries  of  existence.* 

We  may  imagine,  therefore,  with  what  terror  in  this,  the 
twelve-hundredth  year  after  the  foundation  of  Rome,  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  Roman  empire  must  have  heard  the  tidings  that 
the  royal  brethren,  Attila  and  Bleda^  had  founded  a  new  capitol 
on  the  Danube,  which  was  designed  to  rule  over  the  ancient 
capitol  on  the  Tiber ;  and  that  Attila,  like  Romulus,  had  conse- 
crated the  foundation  of  his  new  city  by  murdering  his  brother ; 
so  that,  for  the  new  cycle  of  centuries  then  about  to  commence, 
dominion  had  been  bought  from  the  gloomy  spirits  of  destiny 
in  favor  of  the  Hun  by  a  sacrifice  of  equal  awe  and  value  with 
that  which  had  formerly  obtained  it  for  the  Romans. 

It  is  to  be  remembered  that  not  only  the  pagans,  but  also  the 
Christians  of  that  age,  knew  and  believed  in  these  legends  and 
omens,  however  they  might  differ  as  to  the  nature  of  the  super- 
human agency  by  which  such  mysteries  had  been  made  known 
to  mankind.  And  we  may  observe,  with  Herbert,  a  modern 
learned  dignitary  of  our  church,  how  remarkably  this  augury 
was  fulfilled.  For  "  if  to  the  twelve  centuries  denoted  by  the 
twelve  vultures  that  appeared  to  Romulus  we  add,  for  the  six 
birds  that  appeared  to  Remus,  six  lustra,  or  periods  of  five  years 
each,  by  which  the  Romans  were  wont  to  number  their  time, 
it  brings  us  precisely  to  the  year  476,  in  which  the  Roman  em- 
pire was  finally  extinguished  by  Odoacer." 

An  attempt  to  assassinate  Attila,  made,  or  supposed  to  have 
been  made,  at  the  instigation  of  Theodosius  the  Younger,  the 
Emperor  of  Constantinople,  drew  the  Hunnish  armies,  in  445, 
upon  the  Eastern  empire,  and  delayed  for  a  time  the  destined 
blow  against  Rome.  Probably  a  more  important  cause  of  delay 
was  the  revolt  of  some  of  the  Hunnish  tribes  to  the  north  of  the 
Black  Sea  against  Attila,  which  broke  out  about  this  period,  and 
is  cursorily  mentioned  by  the  Byzantine  writers.  Attila  quelled 
this  revolt ;  and  having  th*us  consolidated  his  power,  and  having 
punished  the  presumption  of  the  Eastern  Roman  emperor  by 

*  See  a  curious  justification  of  Attila's  murder  of  his  brother,  by  a  zealous 
Hungarian  advocate,  in  the  note  to  Pray's  "  Annales  Hunnorum,"  p.  117.  The 
example  of  Romulus  is  the  main  authority  quoted. 


BATTLE  OF  CHALONS.  153 

fearful  ravages  of  his  fairest  provinces,  Attila,  a.d.  450,  pre- 
pared to  set  his  vast  forces  in  motion  for  the  conquest  of  West- 
ern Europe.  He  sought  unsuccessfully  by  diplomatic  intrigues 
to  detach  the  King  of  the  Visigoths  from  his  alliance  with  Rome, 
and  he  resolved  first  to  crush  the  power  of  Theodoric,  and  then 
to  advance  with  overwhelming  power  to  trample  out  the  last 
sparks  of  the  doomed  Roman  empire. 

A  strong  invitation  from  a  Roman  princess  gave  him  a  pretext 
for  the  war,  and  threw  an  air  of  chivalric  enterprise  over  his 
invasion.  Honoria,  sister  of  Valentinian  III.,  the  Emperor  of 
the  West,  had  sent  to  Attila  to  offer  him  her  hand,  and  her  sup- 
posed right  to  share  in  the  imperial  power.  This  had  been  dis- 
covered by  the  Romans,  and  Honoria  had  been  forthwith  closely 
imprisoned.  Attila  now  pretended  to  take  up  arms  in  behalf 
of  his  self -promised  bride,  and  proclaimed  that  he  was  about  to 
march  to  Rome  to  redress  Honoria's  wrongs.  Ambition  and  spite 
against  her  brother  must  have  been  the  sole  motives  that  led 
the  lady  to  woo  the  royal  Hun  ;  for  Attila's  face  and  person  had 
all  the  national  ugliness  of  his  race,  and  the  description  given  of 
him  by  a  Byzantine  ambassador  must  have  been  well  known  i.i 
the  imperial  courts.  Herbert  has  well  versified  the  portrait  drawn 
by  Priscus  of  the  great  enemy  of  both  Byzantium  and  Rome : 

*'  Terrific  was  his  semblance,  in  no  mould 
Of  beautiful  proportion  cast ;  his  limbs 
Nothing  exalted,  but  with  sinews  braced 
Of  chalybean  temper,  agile,  lithe, 
And  swifter  than  the  roe  ;  his  ample  chest 
Was  overbrowed  by  a  gigantic  head, 
With  eyes  keen,  deeply  sunk,  and  small,  that  gleamed 
Strangely  in  wrath,  as  though  some  spirit  unclean 
Within  that  corporal  tenement  installed  ' 

Looked  from  its  windows,  but  with  tempered  fire 
'  Beamed  mildly  on  the  unresisting.     Thin 

His  beard  and  hoary ;  his  flat  nostrils  crowned 

A  cicatrized,  swart  visage;  but  withal 

That  questionable  shape  such  glory  wore 

That  mortals  quailed  beneath  him."  ' 

Two  chiefs  of  the  Franks,  who  were  then  settled  on  the  Lower 
Rhine,  were  at  this  period  engaged  in  a  feud  with  each  other ; 
and  while  one  of  them  appealed  to  the  Romans  for  aid,  the 
other  invoked  the  assistance  and  protection  of  the  Huns.  Attila 
thus  obtained  an  ally  whose  co-operation  secured  for  him  the 
passage  of  the  Rhine ;  and  it  was  this  circumstance  which  caused 
him  to  take  a  northward  route  from  Hungary  for  his  attack  upon 


154  BATTLE  OF  CHALONS. 

Gaul.  The  muster  of  the  Hunnish  hosts  was  swollen  by  war- 
riors of  every  tribe  that  they  had  subjugated ;  nor  is  there  any 
reason  to  suspect  the  old  chroniclers  of  wilful  exaggeration  in 
estimating  Attila's  army  at  seven  hundred  thousand  strong. 
Having  crossed  the  Rhine,  probably  a  little  below  Coblentz,  he 
defeated  the  king  of  the  Burgundians,  who  endeavored  to  bar 
his  progress.  He  then  divided  his  vast  forces  into  two  armies, 
— one  of  which  marched  northwest  upon  Tongres  and  Arras, 
and  the  other  cities  of  that  part  of  France ;  while  the  main  body, 
under  Attila  himself,  marched  up  the  Moselle,  and  destroyed 
Besangon,  and  other  towns  in  the  country  of  the  Burgundians. 
One  of  the  latest  and  best  biographers  of  Attila*  well  observes 
that,  "  having  thus  conquered  the  eastern  part  of  France,  Attila 
prepared  for  an  invasion  of  the  West  Gothic  territories  beyond 
the  Loire.  He  marched  upon  Orleans,  where  he  intended  to 
force  the  passage  of  that  river;  and  only  a  little  attention  is 
requisite  to  enable  us  to  perceive  that  he  proceeded  on  a  sys- 
tematic plan.  He  had  his  right  wing  on  the  north,  for  the  pro- 
tection of  his  Frank  allies ;  his  left  wing  on  the  south,  for  the 
purpose  of  preventing  the  Burgundians  from  rallying,  and  of 
menacing  the  passes  of  the  Alps  from  Italy ;  and  he  led  his 
centre  towards  the  chief  object  of  the  campaign — the  conquest 
of  Orleans,  and  an  easy  passage  into  the  West  Gothic  dominion. 
The  whole  plan  is  very  like  that  of  the  allied  powers  in  1814, 
with  this  difference,  that  their  left  wing  entered  France  through 
the  defiles  of  the  Jura,  in  the  direction  of  Lyons,  and  that  the 
military  object  of  the  campaign  was  the  capture  of  Paris." 

It  was  not  until  the  year  451  that  the  Huns  commenced  the 
siege  of  Orleans ;  and  during  their  campaign  in  Eastern  Gaul, 
the  Roman  general  Aetius  had  strenuously  exerted  himself  in 
collecting  and  organizing  such  an  army  as  might,  when  united 
to  the  soldiery  of  the  Visigoths,  be  fit  to  face  the  Huns  in  the 
field.  He  enlisted  every  subject  of  the  Roman  empire  whom 
patriotism,  courage,  or  compulsion  could  collect  beneath  the 
standards;  and  round  these  troops,  which  assumed  the  once 
proud  title  of  the  legions  of  Rome,  he  arrayed  the  large  forces 
of  barbaric  auxiliaries  whom  pay,  persuasion,  or  the  general  hate 
and  dread  of  the  Huns  brought  to  the  camp  of  the  last  of  the 
Roman  generals.  King  Theodoric  exerted  himself  with  equal 
energy.    Orleans  resisted  her  besiegers  bravely  as  in  after-times. 

*  Biographical  Dictionary  commenced  by  the  Useful  Knowledge  Society  in 
1844. 


BATTLE  OF  CHALONS.  155 

The  passage  of  the  Loire  was  skilfully  defended  against  the 
Huns ;  and  Aetius  and  Theodoric,  after  much  manoeuvring  and 
difficulty,  effected  a  junction  of  their  armies  to  the  south  of  that 
important  river. 

On  the  advance  of  the  allies  upon  Orleans,  Attila  instantly 
broke  up  the  siege  of  that  city,  and  retreated  towards  the  Marne. 
He  did  not  choose  to  risk  a  decisive  battle  with  only  the  central 
corps  of  his  army  against  the  combined  power  of  his  enemies ; 
and  he  therefore  fell  back  upon  his  base  of  operations ;  calling 
in  his  wings  from  Arras  and  Besangon,  and  concentrating  the 
whole  of  the  Hunnish  forces  on  the  vast  plains  of  Chalons-sur- 
Marne.  A  glance  at  the  map  will  show  how  scientifically  this 
place  was  chosen  by  the  Hunnish  general,  as  the  point  for  his 
scattered  forces  to  converge  upon  ;  and  the  nature  of  the  ground 
was  eminently  favorable  for  the  operations  of  cavalry,  the  arm 
in  which  Attila's  strength  peculiarly  lay. 

It  was  during  the  retreat  from  Orleans  that  a  Christian  her- 
mit is  reported  to  have  approached  the  Hunnish  king  and  said 
to  him,  "  Thou  art  the  Scourge  of  God  for  the  chastisement  of 
Christians."  Attila  instantly  assumed  this  new  title  of  terror, 
which  thenceforth  became  the  appellation  by  which  he  was  most 
widely  and  most  fearfully  known. 

The  confederate  armies  of  Romans  and  Visigoths  at  last  met 
their  great  adversary,  face  to  face,  on  the  ample  battle-ground  of 
the  Chalons  plains.  Aetius  commanded  on  the  right  of  the  allies ; 
King  Theodoric  on  the  left ;  and  Sangipan,  king  of  the  Alans, 
whose  fidelity  was  suspected,  was  placed  purposely  in  the  centre 
and  in  the  very  front  of  the  battle.  Attila  commanded  his  centre 
in  person,  at  the  head  of  his  own  countrymen,  while  the  Ostro- 
goths, the  Gepida3,  and  the  other  subject  allies  of  the  Huns 
were  drawn  up  on  the  wings.  Some  manoeuvring  appears  to 
have  occurred  before  the  engagement,  in  which  Aetius  had  the 
advantage,  inasmuch  as  he  succeeded  in  occupying  a  sloping 
hill,  which  commanded  the  left  flank  of  the  Huns.  Attila  saw 
the  importance  of  the  position  taken  by  Aetius  on  the  high 
ground,  and  commenced  the  battle  by  a  furious  attack  on  this 
part  of  the  Roman  line,  in  which  he  seems  to  have  detached 
some  of  his  best  troops  from  his  centre  to  aid  his  left.  The 
Romans  having  the  advantage  of  the  ground,  repulsed  the  Huns, 
and  while  the  allies  gained  this  advantage  on  their  right,  their 
left,  under  King  Theodoric,  assailed  the  Ostrogoths,  who  formed 
the  right  of  Attila's  army.  The  gallant  king  was  himself  struck 
down  by  a  javelin,  as  he  rode  onward  at  the  head  of  his  men, 


156  BATTLE  OF  CHALONS. 

and  his  own  cavalry  charging  over  him  trampled  him  to  death 
in  the  confusion.  But  the  Visigoths,  infuriated,  not  dispirited, 
by  their  monarches  fall,  routed  the  enemies  opposed  to  them, 
and  then  wheeled  upon  the  flank  of  the  Hunnish  centre,  which 
had  been  engaged  in  a  sanguinary  and  indecisive  contest  with 
the  Alans. 

In  this  peril  Attila  made  his  centre  fall  back  upon  his  camp ; 
and  when  the  shelter  of  its  intrenchments  and  wagons  had  once 
been  gained,  the  Hunnish  archers  repulsed,  without  difficulty, 
the  charges  of  the  vengeful  Gothic  cavalry.  Aetius  had  not 
pressed  the  advantage  which  he  gained  on  his  side  of  the  field, 
and  when  night  fell  over  the  wild  scene  of  havoc,  Attila's  left 
was  still  unbroken,  but  his  right  had  been  routed,  and  his  centre 
forced  back  upon  his  camp. 

Expecting  an  assault  on  the  morrow,  Attila  stationed  his  best 
archers  in  front  of  the  cars  and  wagons,  which  were  drawn  up 
as  a  fortification  along  his  lines,  and  made  every  preparation  for 
a  desperate  resistance.  But  the  "  Scourge  of  God  "  resolved 
that  no  man  should  boast  of  the  honor  of  having  either  captured 
or  slain  him ;  and  he  caused  to  be  raised  in  the  centre  of  his 
encampment  a  huge  pyramid  of  the  wooden  saddles  of  his  cav- 
alry: round  it  he  heaped  the  spoils  and  the  wealth  that  he  had 
won  ;  on  it  he  stationed  his  wives  who  had  accompanied  him  in 
the  campaign ;  and  on  the  summit  he  placed  himself,  ready  to 
perish  in  the  flames,  and  balk  the  victorious  foe  of  their  choicest 
booty,  should  they  succeed  in  storming  his  defences. 

But  when  the  morning  broke,  and  revealed  the  extent  of  the 
carnage,  with  which  the  plains  were  heaped  for  miles,  the  suc- 
cessful allies  saw  also  and  respected  the  resolute  attitude  of  their 
antagonist.  Neither  were  any  measures  taken  to  blockade  him 
in  his  camp,  and  so  to  extort  by  famine  that  submission  which 
it  was  too  plainly  perilous  to  enforce  with  the  sword.  Attila 
was  allowed  to  march  back  the  remnants  of  his  army  without 
molestation,  and  even  with  the  semblance  of  success. 

It  is  probable  that  the  crafty  Aetius  was  unwilling  to  be  too 
victorious.  He  dreaded  the  glory  which  his  allies,  the  Visigoths, 
had  acquired ;  and  feared  that  Rome  might  find  a  second  Alaric 
in  Prince  Thorismund,  who  had  signalized  himself  in  the  battle, 
and  had  been  chosen  on  the  field  to  succeed  his  father  Theod- 
oric.  He  persuaded  the  young  king  to  return  at  once  to  his 
capital,  and  thus  relieved  himself  at  the  same  time  of  the  pres- 
ence of  a  dangerous  friend  as  well  as  of  a  formidably,  though 
beaten,  foe. 


BATTLE  OF  CHALONS.  157 

Attila's  attacks  on  the  Western  empire  were  soon  renewed ; 
but  never  \vith  such  peril  to  the  civilized  world  as  had  menaced 
it  before  his  defeat  at  Chalons.  And  on  his  death,  two  years 
after  that  battle,  the  vast  empire  which  his  genius  had  founded 
was  soon  dissevered  by  the  successful  revolts  of  the  subject 
nations.  The  name  of  the  Huns  ceased  for  some  centuries  to 
inspire  terror  in  Western  Europe,  and  their  ascendency  passed 
away  with  the  life  of  the  great  king  by  whom  it  had  been  so 
fearfully  augmented.* 


SYNOPSIS   OF   EVENTS    BETWEEN   THE    BATTLE    OF   CHALONS, 
A.D.  451,  AND   THE    BATTLE   OF  TOURS,  732. 

A.D.  476.  The  Roman  empire  of  the  West  extinguished  by 
Odoacer. 

481.  Establishment  of  the  French  monarchy  in  Gaul  by 
Clovis. 

455  to  582.  The  Saxons,  Angles,  and  Frisians  conquer  Brit- 
ain, except  the  northern  parts,  and  the  districts  along  the  west 
coast.  The  German  conquerors  found  eight  independent  king- 
doms. 

533  to  568.  The  generals  of  Justinian,  the  Emperor  of  Con- 
stantinople, conquer  Italy  and  North  Africa;  and  these  coun- 
tries are  for  a  short  time  annexed  to  the  Roman  Empire  of  the 
East. 

568  to  570.  The  Lombards  conquer  great  part  of  Italy. 

570  to  627.  The  wars  between  the  emperors  of  Constantinople 
and  the  kings  of  Persia  are  actively  continued. 

622.  The  Mahometan  era  of  the  Hegira.  Mahomet  is  driven 
from  Mecca,  and  is  received  as  prince  of  Medina. 

629  to  632.   Mahomet  conquers  Arabia. 

632  to  651.  The  Mahometan  Arabs  invade  and  conquer  Persia. 

632  to  709.  They  attack  the  Roman  empire  of  the  East.  They 
conquer  Syria,  Egypt,  and  Africa. 

709  to  713.  They  cross  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  and  invade 
and  conquer  Spain. 

*  If  I  seem  to  have  given  fewer  of  the  details  of  the  battle  itself  than  its 
importance  would  warrant,  my  excuse  must  be,  that  Gibbon  has  enriched  our 
language  with  a  description  of  it  too  long  for  quotation  and  too  splendid  for 
rivalry.  I  have  not,  however,  taken  altogether  the  same  view  of  it  that  he 
has.  The  notes  to  Mr.  Herbert's  poem  of  "  Attila  "  bring  together  nearly  all 
the  authorities  on  the  subject. 


158  BATTLE  OF  CHALONS. 

"  At  the  death  of  Mohammed,  in  632,  his  temporal  and  relig- 
ious sovereignty  embraced  and  was  limited  by  the  Arabian 
peninsula.  The  Roman  and  Persian  empires,  engaged  in  tedious 
and  indecisive  hostility  upon  the  rivers  of  Mesopotamia  and  the 
Armenian  mountains,  were  viewed  by  the  ambitious  fanatics  of 
his  creed  as  their  quarry.  In  the  very  first  year  of  Mohammed's 
immediate  successor,  Abubeker,  each  of  these  mighty  empires 
was  invaded.  The  crumbling  fabric  of  Eastern  despotism  is 
never  secured  against  rapid  and  total  subversion ;  a  few  victo- 
ries, a  few  sieges,  carried  the  Arabian  arms  from  the  Tigris  to 
the  Oxus,  and  overthrew,  with  the  Sassanian  dynasty,  the  ancient 
and  famous  religion  they  had  professed.  Seven  years  of  active 
and  unceasing  warfare  sufficed  to  subjugate  the  rich  province  of 
Syria,  though  defended  by  numerous  armies  and  fortified  cities ; 
and  the  Khalif  Omar  had  scarcely  returned  thanks  for  the  ac- 
complishment of  this  conquest,  when  Amrou,  his  lieutenant,  an- 
nounced to  him  the  entire  reduction  of  Egypt.  After  some  in- 
terval, the  Saracens  won  their  way  along  the  coast  of  Africa,  as 
far  as  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  and  a  third  province  was  irre- 
trievably torn  from  the  Greek  empire.  These  western  conquests 
introduced  them  to  fresh  enemies,  and  ushered  in  more  splendid 
successes.  Encouraged  by  the  disunion  of  the  Visigoths,  and 
invited  by  treachery,  Musa,  the  general  of  a  master  who  sat  be- 
yond the  opposite  extremity  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  passed 
over  mto  Spain,  and  within  about  two  years  the  name  of  Mo- 
hammed was  invoked  under  the  Pyrenees." — Hallam. 


BATTLE  OF  TOURS.  159 


CHAPTER  yn. 

THE    BATTLE 

"  The  events  that  rescued  our  ancestors  of  Britain,  and  our  neighbors  of 
Gaul,  from  the  civil  and  religious  yoke  of  the  Koran." — Gibbon. 

The  broad  tract  of  champaign  country  which  intervenes  be- 
tween the  cities  of  Poitiers  and  Tours  is  principally  composed 
of  a  succession  of  rich  pasture-lands,  which  are  traversed  and 
fertilized  by  the  Cher,  the  Creuse,  the  Vienne,  the  Claine,  the 
Indre,  and  other  tributaries  of  the  river  Loire.  Here  and  there 
the  ground  swells  into  picturesque  eminences ;  and  occasionally 
a  belt  of  forest  land,  a  brown  heath,  or  a  clustering  series  of 
vineyards,  breaks  the  monotony  of  the  widespread  meadows; 
but  the  general  character  of  the  land  is  that  of  a  grassy  plain, 
and  it  seems  naturally  adapted  for  the  evolutions  of  numerous 
armies,  especially  of  those  vast  bodies  of  cavalry  which  princi- 
pally decided  the  fate  of  nations  during  the  centuries  that  fol- 
lowed the  downfall  of  Rome  and  preceded  the  consolidation  of 
the  modern  European  powers. 

This  region  has  been  signalized  by  more  than  one  memorable 
conflict ;  but  it  is  principally  interesting  to  the  historian  by 
having  been  the  scene  of  the  great  victory  won  by  Charles  Mar- 
tel  over  the  Saracens,  a.d.  732,  which  gave  a  decisive  check  to 
the  career  of  the  Arab  conquest  in  Western  Europe,  rescued 
Christendom  from  Islam,  preserved  the  relics  of  ancient  and  the 
germs  of  modern  civilization,  and  re-established  the  old  supe- 
riority of  the  Indo-European  over  the  Semitic  family  of  man- 
kind. 

Sismondi  and  Michelet  have  underrated  the  enduring  interest 
of  this  great  appeal  of  battle  between  the  champions  of  the 
Crescent  and  the  Cross.  But,  if  French  writers  have  slighted 
the  exploits  of  their  national  hero,  the  Saracenic  trophies  of 
Charles  Martel  have  had  full  justice  done  to  them  by  English 
and  German  historians.     Gibbon  devotes  several  pages  of  his 


160  BATTLE  OF   TOURS. 

great  work*  to  the  narrative  of  the  battle  of  Tours,  and  to  the 
consideration  of  the  consequences  which  probably  would  have 
resulted  if  Abderrah man's  enterprise  had  not  been  crushed  by 
the  Frankish  chief.  Schlegelf  speaks  of  this  "  mighty  victory" 
in  terms  of  fervent  gratitude,  and  tells  how  "  the  arms  of 
Charles  Martel  saved  and  delivered  the  Christian  nations  of  the 
West  from  the  deadly  grasp  of  all-destroying  Islam ;"  and 
Ranke  \  points  out,  as  "  one  of  the  most  important  epochs  in 
the  history  of  the  world,  the  commencement  of  the  eighth  cen- 
tury, when,  on  the  one  side,  Mahommedanism  threatened  to 
overspread  Italy  and  Gaul,  and,  on  the  other,  the  ancient  idolatry 
of  Saxony  and  Friesland  once  more  forced  its  way  across  the 
Rhine.  In  this  peril  of  Christian  institutions,  a  youthful  prince 
of  Germanic  race,  Karl  Martell,  arose  as  their  champion ;  main- 
tained them  with  all  the  energy  which  the  necessity  for  self-de- 
fence calls  forth,  and  finally  extended  them  into  new  regions." 

Arnold  ranks  the  victory  of  Charles  Martel  even  higher  than 
the  victory  of  Arminius,  §  "  among  those  signal  deliverances 
which  have  affected  for  centuries  the  happiness  of  mankind." 
In  fact,  the  more  we  test  its  importance,  the  higher  we  shall  be 
led  to  estimate  it ;  and,  though  the  authentic  details  which  we 
possess  of  its  circumstances  and  its  heroes  are  but  meagre,  we 
can  trace  enough  of  its  general  character  to  make  us  watch  with 
deep  interest  this  encounter  between  the  rival  conquerors  of  the 
decaying  Roman  empire.  That  old  classic  world,  the  history  of 
which  occupies  so  large  a  portion  of  our  early  studies,  lay,  in 
the  eighth  century  of  our  era,  utterly  exanimate  and  overthrown. 
On  the  north  the  German,  on  the  south  the  Arab,  was  rending 
away  its  provinces.  At  last  the  spoilers  encountered  one  another, 
each  striving  for  the  full  mastery  of  the  prey.  Their  conflict 
brought  back  upon  the  memory  of  Gibbon  the  old  Homeric  sim- 
ile, where  the  strife  of  Hector  and  Patroclus  over  the  dead  body 
of  Cebriones  is  compared  to  the  combat  of  two  lions  that,  in 
their  hate  and  hunger,  fight  together  on  the  mountain-tops  over 
the  carcass  of  a  slaughtered  stag ;  and  the  reluctant  yielding  of 

♦Vol.  vii.,  p.  17  et  seq.  Gibbon's  remark,  that  if  the  Saracen  conquest 
had  not  then  been  checked,  "  Perhaps  the  interpretation  of  the  Koran  would 
now  be  taught  in  the  schools  of  Oxford,  and  her  pulpits  might  demonstrate 
to  a  circumcised  people  the  sanctity  and  truth  of  the  revelation  of  Mahomet," 
has  almost  an  air  of  regret. 

+  "  Philosophy  of  History,"  p.  ^31. 

I "  History  of  the  Reformation  in  Germany,"  vol.  i.,  p.  5. 

§"  History  of  the  Later  Roman  Commonwealth,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  317. 


BATTLE   OF  TOURS.  161 

the  Saracen  power  to  the  superior  might  of  the  Northern  war- 
riors might  not  inaptly  recall  those  other  lines  of  the  same  book 
of  the  Iliad  where  the  downfall  of  Patroclus  beneath  Hector  is 
likened  to  the  forced  yielding  of  the  panting  and  exhausted  wild 
boar  that  had  long  and  furiously  fought  with  a  superior  beast  of 
prey  for  the  possession  of  the  fountain  among  the  rocks,  at 
which  each  burned  to  drink.* 

Although  three  centuries  had  passed  away  since  the  Germanic 
conquerors  of  Rome  had  crossed  the  Rhine,  never  to  repass  that 
frontier  stream,  no  settled  system  of  institutions  or  government, 
no  amalgamation  of  the  various  races  into  one  people,  no  uni- 
formity of  language  or  habits,  had  been  established  in  the 
country  at  the  time  when  Charles  Martel  was  called  on  to  repel 
the  menacing  tide  of  Saracenic  invasion  from  the  south.  Gaul 
was  not  yet  France.  In  that,  as  in  other  provinces  of  the  Roman 
empire  of  the  West,  the  dominion  of  the  Caesars  had  been  shat- 
tered as  early  as  the  fifth  century,  and  barbaric  kingdoms  and 
principalities  had  promptly  arisen  on  the  ruins  of  the  Roman 
power.  But  few  of  these  had  any  permanency ;  and  none  of 
them  consolidated  the  rest,  or  any  considerable  number  of  the 
rest,  into  one  coherent  and  organized  civil  and  political  society. 
The  great  bulk  of  the  population  still  consisted  of  the  conquered 
provincials;  that  is  to  say,  of  Romanized  Celts,  of  a  Gallic  race 
which  had  long  been  under  the  dominion  of  the  Caesars,  and  had 
acquired,  together  with  no  slight  infusion  of  Roman  blood,  the 
language,  the  literature,  the  laws,  and  the  civilization  of  Latium. 
Among  these,  and  dominant  over  them,  roved  or  dwelt  the  Ger- 
man victors  :  some  retaining  nearly  all  the  rude  independence  of 
their  primitive  national  character;  others  softened  and  disci- 
plined by  the  aspect  and  contact  of  the  manners  and  institutions 
of  civilized  life.  For  it  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  Roman 
empire  in  the  West  was  not  crushed  by  any  sudden  avalanche 
of  barbaric  invasion.  The  German  conquerors  came  across  the 
Rhine  not  in  enormous  hosts,  but  in  bands  of  a  few  thousand 

*  Akov9'  MQ,  St]piv9riTriv, 
"Qt  opeoQ  Kopv<j)ycii  nspi  KTafikvrjQ  l\a<l>oiOy 
"AfKpoj  TTiivdovTe,  fJLeya  (ppovkovri  fidxiodov. 

II.  tt'.  766. 

'Qf  d'  OTE  ovv  aKaixavTa  Xtu)V  Ifitr^aaTO  xapiiy, 
Tw  T  opeoQ  Kopvtpyai  fikya  (ppovtovre  fidxioOov, 
UioaKOQ  dp<h'  dXiyrjg'  WtXovai  Se  irikfiev  dix<pio  ' 
HaWd  dk  T  dffOnaivovra  Xkujv  tddfiaaae  ^lytjtiv. 

11.  n\  823. 


162  BATTLE  OF  TOURS. 

warriors  at  a  time.  The  conquest  of  a  province  was  the  result 
of  an  infinite  series  of  partial  local  invasions,  carried  on  by  lit- 
tle armies  of  this  description.  The  victorious  warriors  either 
retired  with  their  booty  or  fixed  themselves  in  the  invaded  dis- 
trict, taking  care  to  keep  sufiiciently  concentrated  for  military 
purposes,  and  ever  ready  for  some  fresh  foray,  either  against  a 
rival  Teutonic  band,  or  some  hitherto  unassailed  city  of  the 
provincials.  Gradually,  however,  the  conquerors  acquired  a  de- 
sire for  permanent  landed  possessions.  They  lost  somewhat  of 
the  restless  thirst  for  novelty  and  adventure  which  had  first 
made  them  throng  beneath  the  banner  of  the  boldest  captains  of 
their  tribe,  and  leave  their  native  forests  for  a  roving  military 
life  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Khine.  They  were  converted  to  the 
Christian  faith ;  and  gave  up  with  their  old  creed  much  of  the 
coarse  ferocity,  which  must  have  been  fostered  in  the  spirits  of 
the  ancient  warriors  of  the  North  by  a  mythology  which  prom- 
ised, as  the  reward  of  the  brave  on  earth,  an  eternal  cycle  of 
fighting  and  drunkenness  in  heaven. 

But  although  their  conversion  and  other  civilizing  influences 
operated  powerfully  upon  the  Germans  in  Gaul,  and  although 
the  Franks  (who  were  originally  a  confederation  of  the  Teutonic 
tribes  that  dwelt  between  the  Rhine,  the  Maine,  and  the  Weser) 
established  a  decided  superiority  over  the  other  conquerors  of 
the  province  as  well  as  over  the  conquered  provincials,  the 
country  long  remained  a  chaos  of  uncombined  and  shifting  ele- 
ments. The  early  princes  of  the  Merovingian  dynasty  were  gen- 
erally occupied  in  wars  against  other  princes  of  their  house, 
occasioned  by  the  frequent  subdivisions  of  the  Frank  monarchy  ; 
and  the  ablest  and  best  of  them  had  found  all  their  energies 
tasked  to  the  utmost  to  defend  the  barrier  of  the  Rhine  against 
the  pagan  Germans,  who  strove  to  pass  that  river  and  gather 
their  share  of  the  spoils  of  the  empire. 

The  conquests  which  the  Saracens  effected  over  the  southern 
and  eastern  provinces  of  Rome  were  far  more  rapid  than  those 
achieved  by  the  Germans  in  the  north ;  and  the  new  organiza- 
tions of  society  which  the  Moslems  introduced  were  summarily 
and  uniformly  enforced.  Exactly  a  century  passed  between  the 
death  of  Mahomet  and  the  date  of  the  battle  of  Tours.  Dur- 
ing that  century  the  followers  of  the  Prophet  had  torn  away 
half  the  Roman  empire ;  and,  besides  their  conquests  over  Per- 
sia, the  Saracens  had  overrun  Syria,  Egypt,  Africa,  and  Spain 
in  an  unchequered  and  apparently  irresistible  career  of  victory. 
Nor,  at  the  commencement  of  the  eighth  century  of  our  era. 


BATTLE  OF  TOURS,  163 

was  the  Mahometan  world  divided  against  itself,  as  it  subse- 
quently became.  All  these  vast  regions  obeyed  the  caliph  ; 
throughout  them  all,  from  the  Pyrenees  to  the  Oxus,  the  name 
of  Mahomet  was  invoked  in  prayer,  and  the  Koran  revered  as 
the  book  of  the  law. 

It  was  under  one  of  their  ablest  and  most  renowned  com- 
manders, with  a  veteran  army,  and  with  every  apparent  advan- 
tage of  time,  place,  and  circumstance,  that  the  Arabs  made  their 
great  effort  at  the  conquest  of  Europe  north  of  the  Pyrenees. 
The  victorious  Moslem  soldiery  in  Spain, 

"A  countless  multitude; 
Syrian,  Moor,  Saracen,  Greek  renegade, 
Persian,  and  Copt,  and  Tartar,  in  one  bond 
Of  erring  faith  conjoined — strong  in  the  youth 
And  heat  of  zeal — a  dreadful  brotherhood," 

were  eager  for  the  plunder  of  more  Christian  cities  and  shrines, 
and  full  of  fanatic  confidence  in  the  invincibility  of  their  arms. 

"  Nor  were  the  chiefs 
Of  victory  less  assured,  by  long  success 
Elate,  and  proud  of  that  o'erwhelming  strength 
Which  surely,  they  believed,  as  it  had  rolled 
Thus  far  unchecked,  would  roll  victorious  on, 
Till,  like  the  Orient,  the  subjected  West 
Should  bow  in  reverence  at  Mahommed's  name; 
And  pilgrims  from  remotest  Arctic  shores 
Tread  with  religious  feet  the  burning  sands 
Of  Araby  and  Mecca's  stony  soil." 

Southey's  Roderick. 

It  is  not  only  by  the  modern  Christian  poet,  but  by  the  old 
Arabian  chroniclers  also,  that  these  feelings  of  ambition  and 
arrogance  are  attributed  to  the  Moslems,  who  had  overthrown 
the  Visigoth  power  in  Spain.  And  their  eager  expectations  of 
new  wars  were  excited  to  the  utmost  on  the  reappointment  by 
the  caliph  of  Abderrahman  Ibn  Abdillah  Alghafeki  to  the  gov- 
ernment of  that  country,  a.d.  729,  which  restored  them  a  gen- 
eral who  had  signalized  his  skill  and  prowess  during  the  con- 
quests of  Africa  and  Spain ;  whose  ready  valor  and  generosity 
had  made  him  the  idol  of  the  troops ;  who  had  already  been  en- 
gaged in  several  expeditions  into  Gaul,  so  as  to  be  well  acquaint- 
ed with  the  national  character  and  tactics  of  the  Franks;  and 
who  was  known  to  thirst,  like  a  good  Moslem,  for  revenge  for 
the  slaughter  of  some  detachments  of  the  true  believers  which 
had  been  cut  off  on  the  north  of  the  Pyrenees. 


264  BATTLE  OF  TOURS, 

In  addition  to  his  cardinal  military  virtues,  Abderrahraan  is 
described  by  the  Arab  writers  as  a  model  of  integrity  and  justice. 
The  first  two  years  of  his  second  administration  in  Spain  were 
occupied  in  severe  reforms  of  the  abuses  which  under  his  prede- 
cessors had  crept  into  the  system  of  government,  and  in  exten- 
sive preparations  for  his  intended  conquest  of  Gaul.  Besides 
the  troops  which  he  collected  from  his  province,  he  obtained 
from  Africa  a  large  body  of  chosen  Berber  cavalry,  officered  by 
Arabs  of  proved  skill  and  valor ;  and  in  the  summer  of  732  he 
crossed  the  Pyrenees  at  the  head  of  an  army  which  some  Arab 
writers  rate  at  eighty  thousand  strong,  while  some  of  the  Chris- 
tian chroniclers  swell  its  numbers  to  many  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands more.  Probably  the  Arab  account  diminishes,  but  of  the 
two  keeps  nearer  to  the  truth.  It  was  from  this  formidable 
host,  after  Eudes,  the  Count  of  Aquitaine,  had  vainly  striven 
to  check  it,  after  many  strong  cities  had  fallen  before  it,  and 
half  the  land  been  overrun,  that  Gaul  and  Christendom  were  at 
last  rescued  by  the  strong  arm  of  Prince  Charles,  who  acquired 
a  surname,*  like  that  of  the  war-god  of  his  forefathers'  creed, 
from  the  might  with  which  he  broke  and  shattered  his  enemies 
in  the  battle. 

The  Merovingian  kings  had  sunk  into  absolute  insignificance, 
and  had  become  mere  puppets  of  royalty  before  the  eighth  cen- 
tury. Charles  Martel,  like  his  father,  Pepin  Heristal,  was  duke 
of  the  Austrasian  Franks,  the  bravest  and  most  thoroughly  Ger- 
manic part  of  the  nation  ;  and  exercised,  in  the  name  of  the  tit- 
ular king,  what  little  paramount  authority  the  turbulent  minor 
rulers  of  districts  and  towns  could  be  persuaded  or  compelled 
to  acknowledge.  Engaged  with  his  national  competitors  in  per- 
petual conflicts  for  power,  engaged  also  in  more  serious  strug- 
gles for  safety  against  the  fierce  tribes  of  the  unconverted  Fris- 
ians, Bavarians,  Saxons,  and  Thuringians,  who  at  that  epoch 
assailed  with  peculiar  ferocity  the  Christianized  Germans  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  Rhine,  Charles  Martel  added  experienced  skill 
to  his  natural  courage,  and  he  had  also  formed  a  militia  of  vet- 
erans among  the  Franks.  Hallam  has  thrown  out  a  doubt 
whether,  in  our  admiration  of  his  victory  at  Tours,  we  do  not 
judge  a  little  too  much  by  the  event,  and  whether  there  was  not 
rashness  in  his  risking  the  fate  of  France  on  the  result  of  a 
general  battle  with  the  invaders.     But  when  we  remember  that 

*  Martel — "  The  Hammer."    See  the  Scandinavian  Sagas  for  an  account  of 
the  favorite  weapon  of  Thor. 


BATTLE  OF  TOURS.  165 

Charles  had  no  standing  army,  and  the  independent  spirit  of  the 
Frank  warriors  who  followed  his  standard,  it  seems  most  proba- 
ble that  it  was  not  in  his  power  to  adopt  the  cautious  policy  of 
watching  the  invaders,  and  wearing  out  their  strength  by  delay. 
So  dreadful  and  so  widespread  were  the  ravages  of  the  Saracenic 
light  cavalry  throughout  Gaul  that  it  must  have  been  impossible 
to  restrain  for  any  length  of  time  the  indignant  ardor  of  the 
Franks.  And,  even  if  Charles  could  have  persuaded  his  men 
to  look  tamely  on  while  the  Arabs  stormed  more  towns  and  des- 
olated more  districts,  he  could  not  have  kept  an  army  together 
when  the  usual  period  of  a  military  expedition  had  expired.  If, 
indeed,  the  Arab  account  of  the  disorganization  of  the  Moslem 
forces  be  correct,  the  battle  was  as  well  timed  on  the  part  of 
Charles  as  it  was,  beyond  all  question,  well  fought. 

The  monkish  chroniclers,  from  whom  we  are  obliged  to  glean 
a  narrative  of  this  memorable  campaign,  bear  full  evidence  to 
the  terror  which  the  Saracen  invasion  inspired,  and  to  the  agony 
of  that  great  struggle.  The  Saracens,  say  they,  and  their  king, 
who  was  called  Abdirames.  came  out  of  Spain,  with  all  their 
wives,  and  their  children,  and  their  substance,  in  such  great 
multitudes  that  no  man  could  reckon  or  estimate  them.  They 
brought  with  them  all  their  armor,  and  whatever  they  had,  as  if 
they  were  thenceforth  always  to  dwell  in  France.* 

*'  Then  Abderrahman,  seeing  the  land  filled  with  the  multitude 
of  his  army,  pierces  through  the  mountains,  tramples  over  rough 
and  level  ground,  plunders  far  into  the  country  of  the  Franks, 
and  smites  all  with  the  sword,  insomuch  that  when  Eudo  came 
to  battle  with  him  at  the  river  Garonne,  and  fled  before  him, 
God  alone  knows  the  number  of  the  slain.  Then  ^bderrahman 
pursued  after  Count  Eudo,  and  while  he  strives  to  spoil  and  burn 
the  holy  shrine  at  ToUrs,  he  encounters  the  chief  of  the  Austra- 
sian  Franks,  Charles,  a  man  of  war  from  his  youth  up,  to  whom 
Eudo  had  sent  warning.  There  for  nearly  seven  days  they  strive 
intensely,  and  at  last  they  set  themselves  in  battle  array  ;  and  the 
nations  of  the  north,  standing  firm  as  a  wall,  and  impenetrable  as  a 
zone  of  ice,  utterly  slay  the  Arabs  with  the  edge  of  the  sword."  f 

*  "Lors  issirent  d'Espaigne  li  Sarrazins,  et  un  leur  Roi  qui  avoit  nom  Ab- 
dirames, et  ont  leur  fames  et  leur  enfans  et  toute  leur  substance  en  si  grand 
plente  que  nus  ne  le  prevoit  nombrer  ne  estimer:  tout  leur  harnois  et  quan- 
ques  ils  avoient  amenement  avec  entz,  aussi  comme  si  ils  deussent  toujours 
mes  habiter  en  France." 

f  "  Tunc  Abdirrahman,  multitudine  sui  exercitus  repletam  ppospiciens  ter- 
ram,"  etc. — Script.  Oest.  Franc.^  p.  786. 


166  BATTLE  OF  TOURS. 

The  European  writers  all  concur  in  speaking  of  the  fall  of 
Abderrahman  as  one  of  the  principal  causes  of  the  defeat  of  the 
Arabs;  who,  according  to  one  writer,  after  finding  that  their 
leader  was  slain,  dispersed  in  the  night,  to  the  agreeable  sur- 
prise of  the  Christians,  who  expected  the  next  morning  to  see 
them  issue  from  their  tents  and  renew  the  combat.  One  monk- 
ish  chronicler  puts  the  loss  of  the  Arabs  at  375,000  men,  while 
he  says  that  only  1007  Christians  fell — a  disparity  of  loss  which 
he  feels  bound  to  account  for  by  a  special  interposition  of  Prov- 
idence. I  have  translated  above  some  of  the  most  spirited  pas- 
sages of  these  writers ;  but  it  is  impossible  to  collect  from  them 
anything  like  a  full  or  authentic  description  of  the  great  battle 
itself,  or  of  the  operations  which  preceded  or  followed  it. 

Though,  however,  we  may  have  cause  to  regret  the  meagre- 
ness  and  doubtful  character  of  these  narratives,  we  have  the 
great  advantage  of  being  able  to  compare  the  accounts  given  of 
Abderrahman's  expedition  by  the  national  writers  of  each  side. 
This  is  a  benefit  which  the  inquirer  into  antiquity  so  seldom  can 
obtain,  that  the  fact  of  possessing  it,  in  the  instance  of  the  bat- 
tle of  Tours,  makes  us  think  the  historical  testimony  respecting 
that  great  event  more  certain  and  satisfactory  than  is  the  case 
in  many  other  instances,  where  we  possess  abundant  details  re- 
specting military  exploits,  but  where  those  details  come  to  us 
from  the  annalist  of  one  nation  only ;  and  where  we  have,  con- 
sequently, no  safeguard  against  the  exaggerations,  the  distor- 
tions, and  the  fictions  which  national  vanity  has  so  often  put 
forth  in  the  garb  and  under  the  title  of  history.  The  Arabian 
writers  who  recorded  the  conquests  and  wars  of  their  country- 
men in  Spaiii,  have  narrated  also  the  expedition  into  Gaul  of 
their  great  emir,  and  his  defeat  and  death  near  Tours  in  battle 
with  the  host  of  the  Franks  under  King  Caldus,  the  name  into 
which  they  metamorphose  Charles.* 

They  tell  us  how  there  was  war  between  the  count  of  the 
Frankish  frontier  and  the  Moslems,  and  how  the  count  gath- 
ered together  all  his  people,  and  fought  for  a  time  with  doubt- 
ful success.  "But,"  say  the  Arabian  chroniclers,  "Abderrah- 
man drove  them  back ;  and  the  men  of  Abderrahman  were  puffed 

*  The  Arabian  chronicles  were  compiled  and  translated  into  Spanish  by 
Don  Jose  Antonio  Conde,  in  his  "  Historia  de  la  Dominacion  de  los  Arabos 
en  Espana,"  published  at  Madrid  in  1820.  Conde's  plan,  which  I  have  en- 
deavored to  follow,  was  to  preserve  both  the  style  and  spirit  of  his  Oriental 
authorities,  so  that  we  find  in  his  pages  a  genuine  Saracenic  narrative  of  the 
wars  in  Western  Europe  between  the  Mahometana  and  the  Christians. 


BATTLE  OF  TOURS,  167 

np  in  spirit  by  their  repeated  successes,  and  they  were  full  of 
trust  in  the  valor  and  the  practice  in  war  of  their  emir.  So  the 
Moslems  smote  their  enemies,  and  passed  the  river  Garonne, 
and  laid  waste  the  country,  and  took  captives  without  number. 
And  that  army  went  through  all  places  like  a  desolating  storm. 
Prosperity  made  those  warriors  insatiable.  At  the  passage  of 
the  river,  Abderrahman  overthrew  the  count,  and  the  count  re- 
tired into  his  stronghold,  but  the  Moslems  fought  against  it,  and 
entered  it  by  force,  and  slew  the  count;  for  everything  gave 
way  to  their  scimitars,  which  were  the  robbers  of  lives.  All 
the  nations  of  the  Franks  trembled  at  that  terrible  army,  and 
they  betook  them  to  their  king,  Caldus,  and  told  him  of  the 
havoc  made  by  the  Moslem  horsemen,  and  how  they  rode  at 
their  will  through  all  the  land  of  Narbonne,  Toulouse,  and  Bor- 
deaux, and  they  told  the  king  of  the  death  of  their  count.  Then 
the  king  bade  them  be  of  good  cheer,  and  offered  to  aid  them. 
And  in  the  114th  year*  he  mounted  his  horse,  and  he  took  with 
him  a  host  that  could  not  be  numbered,  and  went  against  the 
Moslems.  And  he  came  upon  them  at  the  great  city  of  Tours. 
And  Abderrahman  and  other  prudent  cavaliers  saw  the  disorder 
of  the  Moslem  troops,  who  were  loaded  with  spoil ;  but  they  did 
not  venture  to  displease  the  soldiers  by  ordering  them  to  aban- 
don everything  except  their  arms  and  war-horses.  And  Abder- 
rahman trusted  in  the  valor  of  his  soldiers  and  in  the  good  fortune 
which  had  ever  attended  him.  But  (the  Arab  writer  remarks) 
such  defect  of  discipline  always  is  fatal  to  armies.  So  Abder- 
rahman and  his  host  attacked  Tours  to  gain  still  more  spoil, 
and  they  fought  against  it  so  fiercely  that  they  stormed  the  city 
almost  before  the  eyes  of  the  army  that  came  to  save  it ;  and 
the  fury  and  the  cruelty  of  the  Moslems  towards  the  inhabitants 
of  the  city  were  like  the  fury  and  cruelty  of  raging  tigers.  It 
was  manifest,"  adds  the  Arab,  "  that  God's  chastisement  was 
sure  to  follow  such  excesses ;  and  Fortune  thereupon  turned  her 
back  upon  the  Moslems. 

"  Near  the  river  Owar  f  the  two  great  hosts  of  the  two  lan- 
guages and  the  two  creeds  were  set  in  array  against  each  other. 
The  hearts  of  Abderrahman,  his  captains,  and  his  men  were  filled 
with  wrath  and  pride,  and  they  were  the  first  to  begin  the  fight. 
The  Moslem  horsemen  dashed  fierce  and  frequent  forward  against 
the  battalions  of  the  Franks,  who  resisted  manfully,  and  many 
fell  dead  on  either  side,  until  the  going  down  of  the  sun.    Night 

•  Of  the  He^ra.  f  Probably  the  Loire. 


168  BATTLE  OF  TOURS. 

parted  the  two  armies ;  but  in  the  gray  of  the  morning  the  Mos« 
lems  returned  to  the  battle.  Their  cavaliers  had  soon  hewn 
their  way  into  the  centre  of  the  Christian  host.  But  many  of 
the  Moslems  were  fearful  for  the  safety  of  the  spoil  which  they 
had  stored  in  their  tents,  and  a  false  cry  arose  in  their  ranks 
that  some  of  the  enemy  were  plundering  the  camp ;  whereupon 
several  squadrons  of  the  Moslem  horsemen  rode  off  to  protect 
their  tents.  But  it  seemed  as  if  they  fled ;  and  all  the  host  was 
troubled.  And  while  Abderrahman  strove  to  check  their  tumult, 
and  to  lead  them  back  to  battle,  the  warriors  of  the  Franks  came 
around  him,  and  he  was  pierced  through  with  many  spears,  so 
that  he  died.  Then  all  the  host  fled  before  the  enemy,  and 
many  died  in  the  flight.  This  deadly  defeat  of  the  Moslems, 
and  the  loss  of  the  great  leader  and  good  cavalier  Abderrah- 
man, took  place  in  the  hundred  and  fifteenth  year." 

It  would  be  difficult  to  expect  from  an  adversary  a  more  ex- 
plicit confession  of  having  been  thoroughly  vanquished  than 
the  Arabs  here  accord  to  the  Europeans.  The  points  on  which 
their  narrative  differs  from  those  of  the  Christians — as  to  how 
many  days  the  conflict  lasted,  whether  the  assailed  city  was  act- 
ually rescued  or  not,  and  the  like — are  of  little  moment  com- 
pared with  the  admitted  great  fact  that  there  was  a  decisive 
trial  of  strength  between  Frank  and  Saracen,  in  which  the  for- 
mer conquered.  The  enduring  importance  of  the  battle  of 
Tours  in  the  eyes  of  the  Moslems  is  attested  not  only  by  the 
expressions  of  "  the  deadly  battle  "  and  "  the  disgraceful  over- 
throw," which  their  writers  constantly  employ  when  referring 
to  it,  but  also  by  the  fact  that  no  further  serious  attempts  at 
conquest  beyond  the  Pyrenees  were  made  by  the  Saracens. 
Charles  Martel,  and  his  son  and  grandson,  were  left  at  leisure  to 
consolidate  and  extend  their  power.  The  new  Christian  Roman 
Empire  of  the  West,  which  the  genius  of  Charlemagne  found- 
ed, and  throughout  which  his  iron  will  imposed  peace  on  the 
old  anarchy  of  creeds  and  races,  did  not  indeed  retain  its  in- 
tegrity after  its  great  ruler's  death.  Fresh  troubles  came  over 
Europe ;  but  Christendom,  though  disunited,  was  safe.  The 
progress  of  civilization  and  the  development  of  the  nationali- 
ties and  governments  of  modern  Europe,  from  that  time  forth, 
went  forward  in  not  uninterrupted,  but  ultimately  certain,  career. 


BATTLE  OF  TOURS.  169 


SYNOPSIS  OF  EVENTS   BETWEEN   THE  BATTLE  OF   TOURS, 
A.D.  T32,  AND  THE  BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS,  1066. 

A.D.  768  to  814.  Reign  of  Charlemagne.  This  monarch  has 
justly  been  termed  the  principal  regenerator  of  Western  Europe 
after  the  destruction  of  the  Roman  empire.  The  early  death  of 
his  brother,  Carloman,  left  him  sole  master  of  the  dominions  of 
the  Franks,  which,  by  a  succession  of  victorious  wars,  he  en- 
larged into  the  new  Empire  of  the  West.  He  conquered  the 
Lombards,  and  re-established  the  pope  at  Rome,  who,  in  return, 
acknowledged  Charles  as  suzerain  of  Italy.  And  in  the  year  800 
Leo  III.,  in  the  name  of  the  Roman  people,  solemnly  crowned 
Charlemagne,  at  Rome,  as  emperor  of  the  Roman  Empire  of  the 
West.  In  Spain,  Charlemagne  ruled  the  country  between  the 
Pyrenees  and  the  Ebro ;  but  his  most  important  conquests  were 
effected  on  the  eastern  side  of  his  original  kingdom,  over  the 
Sclavonians  of  Bohemia,  the  Avars  of  Pannonia,  and  over  the 
previously  uncivilized  German  tribes  who  had  remained  in  their 
fatherland.  The  old  Saxons  were  his  most  obstinate  antago- 
nists, and  his  wars  with  them  lasted  for  thirty  years.  Under 
him  the  greater  part  of  Germany  was  compulsorily  civilized,  and 
converted  from  Paganism  to  Christianity.  His  empire  extended 
eastward  as  far  as  the  Elbe,  the  Saal,  the  Bohemian  mountains, 
and  a  line  drawn  from  thence  crossing  the  Danube  above  Vien- 
na, and  prolonged  to  the  Gulf  of  Istria.* 

Throughout  this  vast  assemblage  of  provinces  Charlemagne 
established  an  organized  and  firm  government.  But  it  is  not  as 
a  mere  conqueror  that  he  demands  admiration.  "  In  a  life  rest- 
lessly active,  we  see  him  reforming  the  coinage  and  establishing 
the  legal  divisions  of  money,  gathering  about  him  the  learned 
of  every  country;  founding  schools  and  collecting  libraries;  in- 
terfering, with  the  air  of  a  king,  in  religious  controversies ;  at- 
tempting, for  the  sake  of  commerce,  the  magnificent  enterprise 
of  uniting  the  Rhine  and  the  Danube,  and  meditating  to  mould 
the  discordant  code  of  Roman  and  barbarian  laws  into  a  uni- 
form system."  f 

814  to  888.  Repeated  partitions  of  the  empire  and  civil  wars 
between  Charlemagne's  descendants.  Ultimately  the  kingdom 
of  France  is  finally  separated  from  Germany  and  Italy.  In  962 
Otho  the  Great  of  Germany  revives  the  imperial  dignity. 

*  Hallam's  "  Middle  Ages."  f  Hallam,  ut  mpra. 


IVO  BATTLE  OF  TOURS. 

827.  Egbert,  king  of  Wessex,  acquires  the  supremacy  over 
the  Anglo-Saxon  kingdoms. 

832.  The  first  Danish  squadron  attacks  part  of  the  English 
coast.  The  Danes,  or  Northmen,  had  begun  their  ravages  in 
France  a  few  years  earlier.  For  two  centuries  Scandinavia  sends 
out  fleet  after  fleet  of  sea-rovers,  who  desolate  all  the  western 
kingdoms  of  Europe,  and  in  many  cases  effect  permanent  con- 
quests. 

871  to  900.  Reign  of  Alfred  in  England.  After  a  long  and  va- 
ried struggle  he  rescues  England  from  the  Danish  invaders. 

911.  The  French  king  cedes  Neustria  to  Hrolf  the  Northman. 
Hrolf  (or  Duke  Rollo,  as  he  thenceforth  was  termed)  and  his 
army  of  Scandinavian  warriors  become  the  ruling  class  of  the 
population  of  the  province,  which  is  called  after  them  Nor- 
mandy. 

1016.  Four  knights  from  Normandy,  who  had  been  on  a  pil- 
grimage to  the  Holy  Land,  while  returning  through  Italy,  head 
the  people  of  Salerno  in  repelling  an  attack  of  a  band  of  Sara- 
cen corsairs.  In  the  next  year  many  adventurers  from  Norman- 
dy settle  in  Italy,  where  they  conquer  Apulia  (1040),  and  after- 
wards (1060)  Sicily. 

1017.  Canute,  king  of  Denmark,  becomes  king  of  England. 
On  the  death  of  the  last  of  his  sons,  in  1041,  the  Saxon  line  is 
restored,  and  Edward  the  Confessor  (who  had  been  bred  in  the 
court  of  the  Duke  of  Normandy)  is  called  by  the  English  to  the 
throne  of  this  island,  as  the  representative  of  the  House  of 
Cerdic. 

1035.  Duke  Robert  of  Normandy  dies  on  his  return  from  a 
pilgrimage  to  the  Holy  Land,  and  his  son  William  (afterwards 
the  conqueror  of  England)  succeeds  to  the  dukedom  of  Nor- 
mandy. 


BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS.  171 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE    BATTLE    OF    HASTINGS,  1066. 

"  Eis  vos  la  Bataille  assemblee, 
Dune  encore  est  grant  renomee." 

Roman  de  Rou,  1.  3183. 

Arietta's  pretty  feet  twinkling  in  the  brook  gained  her  a 
duke's  love,  and  gave  us  William  the  Conqueror.  Had  she  not 
thus  fascinated  Duke  Robert  the  Liberal,  of  Normandy,  Harold 
would  not  have  fallen  at  Hastings,  no  Anglo-Norman  dynasty 
could  have  arisen,  no  British  empire.  The  reflection  is  Sir 
Francis  Palgrave's ;  *  and  it  is  emphatically  true.  If  any  one 
should  write  a  history  of  "  Decisive  loves  that  have  materially 
influenced  the  drama  of  the  world  in  all  its  subsequent  scenes," 
the  daughter  of  the  tanner  of  Falaise  would  deserve  a  conspic- 
uous place  in  his  pages.  But  it  is  her  son,  the  victor  of  Hast- 
ings, who  is  now  the  object  of  our  attention ;  and  no  one  who 
appreciates  the  influence  of  England  and  her  empire  upon  the 
destinies  of  the  world  will  ever  rank  that  victory  as  one  of 
secondary  importance. 

It  is  true  that  in  the  last  century  some  writers  of  eminence  on 
our  history  and  laws  mentioned  the  Norman  Conquest  in  terms 
from  which  it  might  be  supposed  that  the  battle  of  Hastings  led 
to  little  more  than  the  substitution  of  one  royal  family  for  an- 
other on  the  throne  of  this  country,  and  to  the  garbling  and 
changing  of  some  of  our  laws  through  the  "  cunning  of  the 
Norman  lawyers."  But,  at  least  since  the  appearance  of  the 
work  of  Augustin  Thierry  on  the  Norman  Conquest,  these  fo- 
rensic fallacies  have  been  exploded.  Thierry  made  his  readers 
keenly  appreciate  the  magnitude  of  that  political  and  social 
catastrophe.  He  depicted  in  vivid  colors  the  atrocious  cruelties 
of  the  conquerors,  and  the  sweeping  and  enduring  innovations 
that  they  wrought,  involving  the  overthrow  of  the  ancient  con- 
stitution, as  well  as  of  the  last  of  the  Saxon  kings.     In  his  pages 

*  "History  of  Normandy  and  England,"  vol.  i.,  p.  626. 


172  BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS. 

we  see  new  tribunals  and  tenures  superseding  the  old  ones,  new 
divisions  of  race  and  class  introduced,  whole  districts  devas- 
tated to  gratify  the  vengeance  or  the  caprice  of  the  new  tyrant, 
the  greater  part  of  the  lands  of  the  English  confiscated,  and 
divided  among  aliens,  the  very  name  of  Englishmen  turned  into 
a  reproach,  the  English  language  rejected  as  servile  and  bar- 
barous, and  all  the  high  places  in  Church  and  State  for  upwards 
of  a  century  filled  exclusively  by  men  of  foreign  race. 

No  less  true  than  eloquent  is  Thierry's  summing-up  of  the 
social  effects  of  the  Norman  Conquest  on  the.  generation  that 
witnessed  it,  and  on  many  of  their  successors.  He  tells  his 
reader  that  "  if  he  would  form  a  just  idea  of  England  conquered 
by  William  of  Normandy,  he  must  figure  to  himself,  not  a  mere 
change  of  political  rule,  not  the  triumph  of  one  candidate  over 
another  candidate,  of  the  man  of  one  party  over  the  man  of 
another  party ;  but  the  intrusion  of  one  people  into  the  bosom 
of  another  people,  the  violent  placing  of  one  society  over  another 
society,  which  it  came  to  destroy,  and  the  scattered  fragments 
of  which  it  retained  only  as  personal  property,  or  (to  use  the 
words  of  an  old  act)  as  *  the  clothing  of  the  soil :'  he  must  not 
picture  to  himself,  on  the  one  hand,  William,  a  king  and  a  despot ; 
on  the  other,  subjects  of  William's,  high  and  low,  rich  and 
poor,  all  inhabiting  England,  and  consequently  all  English ;  but 
he  must  imagine  two  nations,  of  one  of  which  William  is  a 
member  and  the  chief — two  nations  which  (if  the  term  must  be 
used)  were  both  subject  to  William,  but  as  applied  to  which  the 
word  has  quite  different  senses,  meaning  in  the  one  case  subor- 
dinate, in  the  other  subjugated.  He  must  consider  that  there 
are  two  countries,  two  soils,  included  in  the  same  geographical 
circumference — that  of  the  Normans,  rich  and  free ;  that  of  the 
Saxons,  poor  and  serving,  vexed  hjrent  and  taillage ;  the  former 
full  of  spacious  mansions  and  walled  and  moated  castles,  the 
latter  scattered  over  with  huts  and  straw  and  ruined  hovels: 
that  peopled  with  the  happy  and  the  idle,  with  men  of  the  army 
and  of  the  court,  with  knights  and  nobles ;  this  with  men  of 
pain  and  labor,  with  farmers  and  artisans:  on  the  one  side, 
luxury  and  insolence ;  on  the  other,  misery  and  envy — not  the 
envy  of  the  poor  at  the  sight  of  opulence  they  cannot  reach,  but 
the  envy  of  the  despoiled  when  in  presence  of  the  despoilers." 

Perhaps  the  effect  of  Thierry's  work  has  been  to  cast  into  the 
shade  the  ultimate  good  effects  on  England  of  the  Norman  Con- 
quest. Yet  these  are  as  undeniable  as  are  the  miseries  which 
that  conquest  inflicted  on  our  Saxon  ancestors  from  the  time  of 


BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS.  l73 

the  battle  of  Hastings  to  the  time  of  the  signing  of  the  Gii-eat 
Charter  at  Runnymede.  That  last  is  the  true  epoch  of  English 
nationality :  it  is  the  epoch  when  Anglo-Norman  and  Anglo- 
Saxon  ceased  to  keep  aloof  from  each  other — the  one  in  haughty 
scorn,  the  other  in  sullen  abhorrence;  and  when  all  the  free 
men  of  the  land,  whether  barons,  knights,  yeomen,  or  burghers, 
combined  to  lay  the  foundations  of  English  freedom. 

Our  Norman  barons  were  the  chiefs  of  that  primary  consti- 
tutional movement ;  those  "  iron  barons  "  whom  Chatham  has  so 
nobly  eulogized.  This  alone  should  make  England  remember 
her  obligations  to  the  Norman  Conquest,  which  planted  far  and 
wide,  as  a  dominant  class  in  her  land,  a  martial  nobility  of  the 
bravest  and  most  energetic  race  that  ever  existed. 

It  may  sound  paradoxical,  but  it  is  in  reality  no  exaggeration 
to  say,  with  Guizot,*  that  England  owes  her  liberties  to  her 
having  been  conquered  by  the  Normans.  It  is  true  that  the 
Saxon  institutions  were  the  primitive  cradle  of  English  liberty, 
but  by  their  own  intrinsic  force  they  could  never  have  founded 
the  enduring  free  English  constitution.  It  was  the  Conquest 
that  infused  into  them  a  new  virtue ;  and  the  political  liberties 
of  England  arose  from  the  situation  in  which  the  Anglo-Saxon 
and  the  Anglo-Norman  populations  and  laws  found  themselves 
placed  relatively  to  each  other  in  this  island.  The  state  of 
England  under  her  last  Anglo-Saxon  kings  closely  resembled 
the  state  of  France  under  the  last  Carlovingian  and  the  first 
Capetian  princes.  The  crown  was  feeble,  the  great  nobles  were 
strong  and  turbulent.  And  although  there  was  more  national 
unity  in  Saxon  England  than  in  France;  although  the  English 
local  free  institutions  had  more  reality  and  energy  than  was  the 
case  with  anything  analogous  to  them  on  the  Continent  in  the 
eleventh  century,  still  the  probability  is  that  the  Saxon  system 
of  polity,  if  left  to  itself,  would  have  fallen  into  utter  confusion, 
out  of  which  would  have  arisen  first  an  aristocratic  hierarchy 
like  that  which  arose  in  France,  next  an  absolute  monarchy,  and 
finally  a  series  of  anarchical  revolutions,  such  as  we  now  behold 
around,  but  not  among  us.f 

The  latest  conquerors  of  this  island  were  also  the  bravest  and 
the  best.  I  do  not  except  even  the  Romans.  And,  in  spite  of  our 
sympathies  with  Harold  and  Here  ward,  and  our  abhorrence  of  the 
founder  of  the  New  Forest,  and  the  desolator  of  Yorkshire,  we  must 

♦"Essais  sur  I'Histoire  de  France,"  p.  273  et  seq. 
f  See  Guizot,  ut  supra. 


174  BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS. 

confess  the  superiority  of  the  Normans  to  the  Anglo-Saxons  and 
Anglo-Danes,  whom  they  met  here  in  1066,  as  well  as  to  the  degen- 
erate Frank  noblesse  and  the  crushed  and  servile  Romanesque 
provincials  from  whom,  in  912,  they  had  wrested  the  district 
in  the  north  of  Gaul  which  still  bears  the  name  of  Normandy. 

It  was  not  merely  by  extreme  valor  and  ready  subordination 
or  military  discipline  that  the  Normans  were  pre-eminent  among 
all  the  conquering  races  of  the  Gothic  stock,  but  also  by  their 
instinctive  faculty  of  appreciating  and  adopting  the  superior 
civilizations  which  they  encountered.  Thus  Duke  Rollo  and 
his  Scandinavian  warriors  readily  embraced  the  creed,  the  lan- 
guage, the  laws,  and  the  arts  which  France,  in  those  troubled 
and  evil  times  with  which  the  Capetian  dynasty  commenced, 
still  inherited  from  imperial  Rome  and  imperial  Charlemagne. 
"  They  adopted  the  customs,  the  duties,  the  obedience,  that  the 
capitularies  of  emperors  and  kings  had  established;  but  that 
which  they  brought  to  the  application  of  those  laws  was  the 
spirit  of  life,  the  spirit  of  liberty — the  habits  also  of  military 
subordination,  and  the  aptness  for  a  state  politic,  which  could 
reconcile  the  security  of  all  with  the  independence  of  each."* 
So,  also,  in  all  chivalric  feelings,  in  enthusiastic  religious  zeal, 
in  almost  idolatrous  respect  to  females  of  gentle  birth,  in  gen- 
erous fondness  for  the  nascent  poetry  of  the  time,  in  a  keen  in- 
tellectual relish  for  subtle  thought  and  disputation,  in  a  taste 
for  architectural  magnificence,  and  all  courtly  refinemeiit  and 
pageantry,  the  Normans  were  the  Paladins  of  the  world.  Their 
brilliant  qualities  were  sullied  by  many  darker  traits  of  pride,  of 
merciless  cruelty,  and  of  brutal  contempt  for  the  industry,  the 
rights,  and  the  feelings  of  all  whom  they  considered  the  lower 
classes  of  mankind. 

Their  gradual  blending  with  the  Saxons  softened  these  harsh 
and  evil  points  of  their  national  character,  and  in  return  they 
fired  the  duller  Saxon  mass  with  a  new  spirit  of  animation  and 
power.  As  Campbell  boldly  expressed  it,  "  They  high-mettled  the 
blood  of  our  veins."  Small  had  been  the  figure  which  England 
made  in  the  world  before  the  coming-over  of  the  Normans ;  and 
without  them  she  never  would  have  emerged  from  insignificance. 
The  authority  of  Gibbon  may  be  taken  as  decisive,  when  he  pro- 
nounces that,  "  Assuredly  England  was  a  gainer  by  the  Con- 
quest." And  we  may  proudly  adopt  the  comment  of  the  French- 
man Rapin,  who,  writing  of  the  battle  of  Hastings  more  than  a 

*  Sismondi,  "Histoire  des  Fran9ais,"  vol.  iii.,  p.  174. 


BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS.  175 

century  ago,  speaks  of  the  revolution  effected  by  it  as  *'  the  first 
step  by  which  England  has  arrived  to  that  height  of  grandeur 
and  glory  we  behold  it  in  at  present."  * 

The  interest  of  this  eventful  struggle,  by  which  William  of 
Normandy  became  King  of  England,  is  materially  enhanced  by 
the  high  personal  characters  of  the  competitors  for  our  crown. 
They  were  three  in  number.  One  was  a  foreign  prince  from 
the  North ;  one  was  a  foreign  prince  from  the  South ;  and  one 
was  a  native  hero  of  the  land.  Harald  Hardrada,  the  strongest 
and  the  most  chivalric  of  the  kings  of  Norway,f  was  the  first ; 
Duke  William  of  Normandy  was  the  second ;  and  the  Saxon 
Harold,  the  son  of  Earl  Godwin,  was  the  third.  Never  was  a 
nobler  prize  sought  by  nobler  champions,  or  striven  for  more 
gallantly.  The  Saxon  triumphed  over  the  Norwegian,  and  the 
Norman  triumphed  over  the  Saxon ;  but  Norse  valor  was  never 
more  conspicuous  than  when  Harald  Hardrada  and  his  host 
fought  and  fell  at  Stamford  Bridge ;  nor  did  Saxons  ever  face 
their  foes  more  bravely  than  our  Harold  and  his  men  on  the 
fatal  day  of  Hastings. 

During  the  reign  of  King  Edward  the  Confessor  over  this 
land,  the  claims  of  the  Norwegian  king  to  our  crown  were  little 
thought  of;  and  though  Hardrada's  predecessor.  King  Magnus 
of  Norway,  had  on  one  occasion  asserted  that,  by  virtue  of  a 
compact  with  our  former  king,  Hardicanute,  he  was  entitled  to 
the  English  throne,  no  serious  attempt  had  been  made  to  enforce 
his  pretensions.  But  the  rivalry  of  the  Saxon  Harold  and  the 
Norman  William  was  foreseen  and  bewailed  by  the  Confessor, 
who  was  believed  to  have  predicted  on  his  death-bed  the  calam- 
ities that  were  pending  over  England.  Duke  William  was  King 
Edward's  kinsman.  Harold  was  the  head  of  the  most  powerful 
noble  house,  next  to  the  royal  blood,  in  England ;  and  personally 
he  was  the  bravest  and  most  popular  chieftain  in  the  land.  King 
Edward  was  childless,  and  the  nearest  collateral  heir  was  a  puny, 
unpromising  boy.  England  had  suffered  too  severely  during 
royal  minorities  to  make  the  accession  of  Edgar  Atheling  desir- 
able ;  and  long  before  King  Edward's  death.  Earl  Harold  was 
the  destined  king  of  the  nation's  choice,  though  the  favor  of 
the  Confessor  was  believed  to  lean  towards  the  Norman  duke. 

A  little  time  before  the  death  of  King  Edward,  Harold  was  in 
Normandy.     The  causes  of  the  voyage  of  the  Saxon  earl  to  the 

*  Rapin,  "  Hist.  England,"  p.  164.     See  also  Sharon  Turner,  vol.  iv.,  p.  72 ; 
and,  above  all,  Palgrave's  "  Normandy  and  England." 
f  See  in  Snorre  the  "Saga  of  Harold  Hardrada." 


176  BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS. 

Continent  are  doubtful ;  but  the  fact  of  his  having  been,  in  1065, 
at  the  ducal  court,  and  in  the  power  of  his  rival,  is  indisputable. 
William  made  skilful  and  unscrupulous  use  of  the  opportunity. 
Though  Harold  was  treated  with  outward  courtesy  and  friend- 
ship, he  was  made  fully  aware  that  his  liberty  and  life  depend- 
ed on  his  compliance  with  the  duke's  requests.  William  said  to 
him,  in  apparent  confidence  and  cordiality,  "  When  King  Edward 
and  I  once  lived  like  brothers  under  the  same  roof,  he  promised 
that  if  ever  he  became  King  of  England,  he  would  make  me  heir 
to  his  throne.  Harold,  1  wish  that  thou  wouldst  assist  me  to 
realize  this  promise."  Harold  replied  with  expressions  of  assent ; 
and  further  agreed,  at  William's  request,  to  marry  William's 
daughter  Adela,  and  to  send  over  his  own  sister  to  be  married 
to  one  of  William's  barons.  The  crafty  Norman  was  not  cou' 
tent  with  this  extorted  promise ;  he  determined  to  bind  Harold 
by  a  more  solemn  pledge,  which,  if  broken,  would  be  a  weight 
on  the  spirit  of  the  gallant  Saxon,  and  a  discouragement  to 
others  from  adopting  his  cause.  Before  a  full  assembly  of  the 
Norman  barons,  Harold  was  required  to  do  homage  to  Duke 
William,  as  the  heir-apparent  of  the  English  crown.  Kneeling 
down,  Harold  placed  his  hands  between  those  of  the  duke,  and 
repeated  the  solemn  form  by  which  he  acknowledged  the  duke 
as  his  lord,  and  promised  to  him  fealty  and  true  service.  But 
William  exacted  more.  He  had  caused  all  the  bones  and  relics 
of  saints,  that  were  preserved  in  the  Norman  monasteries  and 
churches,  to  be  collected  into  a  chest,  which  was  placed  in  the 
council-room,  covered  over  with  a  cloth  of  gold.  On  the  chest 
of  relics,  which  were  thus  concealed,  was  laid  a  missal.  The 
duke  then  solemnly  addressed  his  titular  guest  and  real  captive, 
and  said  to  him,  "  Harold,  I  require  thee,  before  this  noble 
assembly,  to  confirm  by  oath  the  promises  which  thou  hast  made 
me,  to  assist  me  in  obtaining  the  crown  of  England  after  King 
Edward's  death,  to  marry  my  daughter  Adela,  and  to  send  me 
thy  sister,  that  I  may  give  her  in  marriage  to  one  of  my  barons." 
Harold,  once  more  taken  by  surprise,  and  not  able  to  deny  his 
former  words,  approached  the  missal,  and  laid  his  hand  on  it, 
not  knowing  that  the  chest  of  relics  was  beneath.  The  old 
Norman  chronicler,  who  describes  the  scene  most  minutely,* 
says,  when  Harold  placed  his  hand  on  it,  the  hand  trembled 
and  the  flesh  quivered  ;  but  he  swore,  and  promised  upon  his 
oath,  to  take  Ele  [Adela]  to  wife,  and  to  deliver  up  England  to 

*  Wace,  "  Koman  de  Rou."    I  have  nearly  followed  his  words. 


BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS.  17? 

the  duke,  and  thereunto  to  do  all  in  his  power,  according  to  his 
might  and  wit,  after  the  death  of  Edward,  if  he  himself  should 
live  :  so  help  him  God.  Many  cried,  "  God  grant  it !"  and  when 
Harold  rose  from  his  knees  the  duke  made  him  stand  close  to 
the  chest,  and  took  off  the  pall  that  had  covered  it,  and  showed 
Harold  upon  what  holy  relics  he  had  sworn ;  and  Harold  was 
sorely  alarmed  at  the  sight. 

Harold  was  soon  after  this  permitted  to  return  to  England ; 
and,  after  a  short  interval,  during  which  he  distinguished  him- 
self by  the  wisdom  and  humanity  with  which  he  pacified  some 
formidable  tumults  of  the  Anglo-Danes  in  Northumbria,  he 
found  himself  called  on  to  decide  whether  he  would  keep  the 
oath  which  the  Norman  had  obtained  from  him,  or  mount  the 
vacant  throne  of  England  in  compliance  with  the  nation's 
choice.  King  Edward  the  Confessor  died  on  the  5th  of  Janu- 
ary, 1066,  and  on  the  following  day  an  assembly  of  the  thanes 
and  prelates  present  in  London,  and  of  the  citizens  of  the  me- 
tropolis, declared  that  Harold  should  be  their  king.  It  was  re- 
ported that  the  dying  Edward  had  nominated  him  as  his  suc- 
cessor ;  but  the  sense  which  his  countrymen  entertained  of  his 
pre-enoyaent  merit  was  the  true  foundation  of  his  title  to  the 
crown.*^'  Harold  resolved  to  disregard  the  oath  which  he  made 
in  Normandy,  as  violent  and  void,  and  on  the  Yth  day  of  that 
January  he  was  anointed  King  of  England,  and  received  from 
the  archbishop's  hands  the  golden  crown  and  sceptre  of  Eng- 
land, and  also  an  ancient  national  symbol,  a  weighty  battle-axe. 
He  had  deep  and  speedy  need  of  this  significant  part  of  the 
insignia  of  Saxon  royalty. 

A  messenger  from  Normandy  soon  arrived  to  remind  Harold 
of  the  oath  which  he  had  sworn  to  the  duke  "  with  his  mouth, 
and  his  hand  upon  good  and  holy  relics."  "  It  is  true,"  replied 
the  Saxon  king,  *'  that  I  took  an  oath  to  William ;  but  I  took  it 
under  constraint :  I  promised  what  did  not  belong  to  me — what 
I  could  not  in  any  way  hold :  my  royalty  is  not  my  own ;  I 
could  not  lay  it  down  against  the  will  of  the  country,  nor  can  I 
against  the  will  of  the  country  take  a  foreign  wife.  As  for  my 
sister,  whom  the  duke  claims,  that  he  may  marry  her  to  one  of 
his  chiefs,  she  has  died  within  the  year ;  would  he  have  me 
send  her  corpse  ?" 

William  sent  another  message,  which  met  with  a  similar  an- 
swer; and  then  the  duke  published  far  and  wide  through 
Christendom  what  he  termed  the  perjury  and  bad  faith  of  his 
rival,  and  proclaimed  his  intention  of  asserting  his  rights  by 


178  BATTLE  OF  HASTmOS. 

the  sword  before  the  year  should  expire,  and  of  pursuing  and 
punishing  the  perjurer  even  in  those  places  where  he  thought  he 
stood  most  strongly  and  most  securely. 

Before,  however,  he  commenced  hostilities,  William,  with  deep- 
laid  policy,  submitted  his  claims  to  the  decision  of  the  pope. 
Harold  refused  to  acknowledge  this  tribunal,  or  to  answer  be- 
fore an  Italian  priest  for  his  title  as  an  English  king.  After  a 
formal  examination  of  William's  complaints  by  the  pope  and 
the  cardinals,  it  was  solemnly  adjudged  at  Rome  that  Eng- 
land belonged  to  the  Norman  duke  ;  and  a  banner  was  sent  to 
William  from  the  holy  see,  which  the  pope  himself  had  con- 
secrated and  blessed  for  the  invasion  of  this  island.  The  clergy 
throughout  the  continent  were  now  assiduous  and  energetic  in 
preaching  up  William's  enterprise  as  undertaken  in  the  cause 
of  God.  Besides  these  spiritual  arms  (the  effect  of  which  in 
the  eleventh  century  must  not  be  measured  by  the  philosophy 
or  the  indifferentism  of  the  nineteenth),  the  Norman  duke 
applied  all  the  energies  of  his  mind  and  body,  all  the  resources 
of  his  duchy,  and  all  the  influence  he  possessed  among  vassals 
or  allies,  to  the  collection  of  "  the  most  remarkable  and  formi- 
dable armament  which  the  Western  nations  had  witn^ed."* 
All  the  adventurous  spirits  of  Christendom  flocked  to  the  holy 
banner,  under  which  Duke  William,  the  most  renowned  knight 
and  sagest  general  of  the  age,  promised  to  lead  them  to  glory 
and  wealth  in  the  fair  domains  of  England.  His  army  was 
filled  with  the  chivalry  of  continental  Europe,  all  eager  to  save 
their  souls  by  fighting  at  the  pope's  bidding,  ardent  to  signalize 
their  valor  in  so  great  an  enterprise,  and  longing  also  for  the 
pay  and  the  plunder  which  William  liberally  promised.  But 
the  Normans  themselves  were  the  pith  and  the  flower  of  the 
army ;  and  William  himself  was  the  strongest,  the  sagest,  and 
fiercest  spirit  of  them  all. 

Throughout  the  spring  and  summer  of  1066,  all  the  seaports 
of  Normandy,  Picardy,  and  Brittany  rang  with  the  busy  sound 
of  preparation.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  Channel,  King 
Harold  collected  the  army  and  the  fleet  with  which  he  hoped  to 
crush  the  southern  invaders.  But  the  unexpected  attack  of 
King  Harold  Hardrada  of  Norway  upon  another  part  of  Eng- 
land disconcerted  the  skilful  measures  which  the  Saxon  had 
taken  against  the  menacing  armada  of  Duke  William. 

Harold's   renegade   brother,   Earl    Tostig,   had    excited    the 

*  Sir  James  Mackintosh's  "  History  of  England,"  vol.  i.,  p.  97. 


BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS.  179 

Norse  king  to  this  enterprise,  the  importance  of  which  has 
naturally  been  eclipsed  by  the  superior  interest  attached  to  the 
victorious  expedition  of  Duke  William,  but  which  was  on  a 
scale  of  grandeur  which  the  Scandinavian  ports  had  rarely,  if 
ever  before,  witnessed.  Hardrada's  fleet  consisted  of  two  hun- 
dred war-ships  and  three  hundred  other  vessels,  and  all  the 
best  warriors  of  Norway  were  in  his  host.  He  sailed  first  to 
the  Orkneys,  where  many  of  the  islanders  joined  him,  and  then 
to  Yorkshire.  After  a  severe  conflict  near  York,  he  completely 
routed  Earls  Edwin  and  Morcar,  the  governors  of  Northumbria. 
The  city  of  York  opened  its  gates,  and  all  the  country,  from 
the  Tyne  to  the  Humber,  submitted  to  him.  The  tidings  of 
the  defeat  of  Edwin  and  Morcar  compelled  Harold  to  leave  his 
position  on  the  southern  coast,  and  move  instantly  against  the 
Norwegians.  By  a  remarkably  rapid  march  he  reached  York- 
shire in  four  days,  and  took  the  Norse  king  and  his  confederates 
by  surprise.  Nevertheless,  the  battle  which  ensued,  and  which 
was  fought  near  Stamford  Bridge,  was  desperate  and  was  long 
doubtful.  Unable  to  break  the  ranks  of  the  Norwegian  phalanx 
by  force,  Harold  at  length  tempted  them  to  quit  their  close 
order  by  a  pretended  flight.  Then  the  English  columns  burst 
in  among  them,  and  a  carnage  ensued,  the  extent  of  which  may 
be  judged  of  by  the  exhaustion  and  inactivity  of  Norway  for  a 
quarter  of  a  century  afterwards.  King  Harald  Hardrada,  and 
all  the  flower  of  his  nobility,  perished  on  the  25th  of  Septem- 
ber, 1066,  at  Stamford  Bridge ;  a  battle  which  was  a  Flodden 
to  Norway. 

Harold's  victory  was  splendid ;  but  he  had  bought  it  dearly 
by  the  fall  of  many  of  his  best  officers  and  men  ;  and  still  more 
dearly  by  the  opportunity  which  Duke  William  had  gained  of 
effecting  an  unopposed  landing  on  the  Sussex  coast.  The 
whole  of  William's  shipping  had  assembled  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Dive,  a  little  river  between  the  Seine  and  the  Orme,  as  early  as 
the  middle  of  August.  The  army  which  he  had  collected 
amounted  to  fifty  thousand  knights,  and  ten  thousand  soldiers 
of  inferior  degree.  Many  of  the  knights  were  mounted,  but 
many  must  have  served  on  foot ;  as  it  is  hardly  possible  to  be- 
lieve that  William  could  have  found  transports  for  the  convey- 
ance of  fifty  thousand  war-horses  across  the  Channel.  For  a 
long  time  the  winds  were  adverse ;  and  the  duke  employed  the 
interval  that  passed  before  he  could  set  sail  in  completing  the 
organization  and  in  improving  the  discipline  of  his  army,  which 
he  seems  to  have  brought  into  the  same  state  of  perfection  as 


180  BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS. 

was  seven  centuries  and  a  half  afterwards  the  boast  of  another 
army  assembled  on  the  same  coast,  and  which  Napoleon  designed 
(but  providentially  in  vain)  for  a  similar  descent  upon  England. 

It  was  not  till  the  approach  of  the  equinox  that  the  wind 
veered  from  the  northeast  to  the  west,  and  gave  the  Normans  an 
opportunity  of  quitting  the  weary  shores  of  the  Dive.  They 
eagerly  embarked  and  set  sail ;  but  the  wind  soon  freshened  to 
a  gale,  and  drove  them  along  the  French  coast  to  St.  Valery, 
where  the  greater  part  of  them  found  shelter ;  but  many  of  their 
vessels  were  wrecked,  and  the  whole  coast  of  Normandy  was 
strewn  with  the  bodies  of  the  drowned.  William's  army  began 
to  grow  discouraged  and  averse  to  the  enterprise,  which  the 
very  elements  thus  seemed  to  fight  against ;  though  in  reality 
the  northeast  wind  which  had  cooped  them  so  long  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Dive,  and  the  western  gale  which  had  forced  them 
into  St.  Valery,  were  the  best  possible  friends  to  the  invaders. 
They  prevented  the  Normans  from  crossing  the  Channel  until 
the  Saxon  king  and  his  army  of  defence  had  been  called  away 
from  the  Sussex  coast  to  encounter  Harald  Hardrada  in  York- 
shire ;  and  also  until  a  formidable  English  fleet,  which  by  King 
Harold's  orders  had  been  cruising  in  the  Channel  to  intercept 
the  Normans,  had  been  obliged  to  disperse  temporarily  for  the 
purpose  of  refitting  and  taking  in  fresh  stores  of  provisions. 

Duke  William  used  every  expedient  to  reanimate  the  droop- 
ing spirits  of  his  men  at  St.  Valery ;  and  at  last  he  caused  the 
body  of  the  patron  saint  of  the  place  to  be  exhumed  and  carried 
in  solemn  procession,  while  the  whole  assemblage  of  soldiers, 
mariners,  and  appurtenant  priests  implored  the  saint's  interces- 
sion for  a  change  of  wind.  That  very  night  the  wind  veered, 
and  enabled  the  mediaeval  Agamemnon  to  quit  his  Aulis. 

With  full  sails,  and  a  following  southern  breeze,  the  Norman 
armada  left  the  French  shores  and  steered  for  England.  The 
invaders  crossed  an  undefended  sea,  and  found  an  undefended 
coast.  It  was  in  Pevensey  Bay  in  Sussex,  at  Bulverhithe,  be- 
tween the  castle  of  Pevensey  and  Hastings,  that  the  last  con- 
querors of  this  island  landed,  on  the  29th  of  September,  1066. 

Harold  was  at  York,  rejoicing  over  his  recent  victory,  which 
had  delivered  England  from  her  ancient  Scandinavian  foes,  and 
resettling  the  government  of  the  counties  which  Harald  Har- 
drada had  overrun,  when  the  tidings  reached  him  that  Duke 
William  of  Normandy  and  his  host  had  landed  on  the  Sussex 
shore.  Harold  instantly  hurried  southward  to  meet  this  long- 
expected  enemy.    The  severe  loss  which  his  army  had  sustained 


BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS.  181 

in  the  battle  with  the  Norwegians  must  have  made  it  impossible 
for  any  large  number  of  veteran  troops  to  accompany  him  in  his 
forced  march  to  London,  and  thence  to  Sussex.  He  halted  at 
the  capital  only  six  days ;  and  during  that  time  gave  orders  for 
collecting  forces  from  his  southern  and  midland  counties,  and 
also  directed  his  fleet  to  reassemble  off  the  Sussex  coast.  Har- 
old was  well  received  in  London,  and  his  summons  to  arms  was 
promptly  obeyed  by  citizen,  by  thane,  by  sokman,  and  by  ceorl ; 
for  he  had  shown  himself  during  his  brief  reign  a  just  and  wise 
king,  affable  to  all  men,  active  for  the  good  of  his  country,  and 
(in  the  words  of  the  old  historian)  sparing  himself  from  no  fa- 
tigue by  land  or  sea.*  He  might  have  gathered  a  much  more 
numerous  force  than  that  of  William,  but  his  recent  victory  had 
made  him  over-confident,  and  he  was  irritated  by  the  reports  of 
the  country  being  ravaged  by  the  invaders.  As  soon,  therefore, 
as  he  had  collected  a  small  army  in  London,  he  marched  off 
towards  the  coast ;  pressing  forward  as  rapidly  as  his  men  could 
traverse  Surrey  and  Sussex,  in  the  hope  of  taking  the  Normans 
unawares,  as  he  had  recently  by  a  similar  forced  march  suc- 
ceeded in  surprising  the  Norwegians.  But  he  had  now  to  deal 
with  a  foe  equally  brave  with  Plarald  Hardrada,  and  far  more 
skilful  and  wary. 

The  old  Norman  chroniclers  describe  the  preparations  of  Will- 
iam on  his  landing  with  a  graphic  vigor  which  would  be  wholly 
lost  by  transfusing  their  racy  Norman  couplets  and  terse  Latin 
prose  into  the  current  style  of  modern  history.  It  is  best  to  fol- 
low them  closely,  though  at  the  expense  of  much  quaintness 
and  occasional  uncouthness  of  expression.  They  tell  us  how 
Duke  William's  own  ship  was  the  first  of  the  Norman  fleet.  "  It 
was  called  the  Mora,  and  was  the  gift  of  his  duchess,  Matilda. 
On  the  head  of  the  ship  in  the  front,  which  mariners  call  the 
prow,  there  was  a  brazen  child  bearing  an  arrow  with  a  bended 
bow.  His  face  was  turned  towards  England,  and  thither  he 
looked,  as  though  he  were  about  to  shoot.  The  breeze  became 
soft  and  sweet,  and  the  sea  was  smooth  for  their  landing.  The 
ships  ran  on  dry  land,  and  each  ranged  by  the  other's  side. 
There  you  might  see  the  good  sailors,  the  sergeants,  and  squires 
sally  forth  and  unload  the  ships ;  cast  the  anchors,  haul  the 
ropes,  bear  out  shields  and  saddles,  and  land  the  war-horses  and 
palfreys.     The  archers  came  forth,  and  touched  land  the  first, 

*  See  Roger  de  Hoveden  and  William  of  Malmesbury,  cited  in  Thierry, 
book  iii. 


182  BATTLE  OF  HASTINOa, 

each  with  his  bow  strung,  and  with  his  quiver  full  of  arrows, 
slung  at  his  side.  All  were  shaven  and  shorn  ;  and  all  clad  in 
short  garments,  ready  to  attack,  to  shoot,  to  wheel  about  and 
skirmish.  All  stood  well  equipped,  and  of  good  courage  for  the 
fight;  and  they  scoured  the  whole  shore,  but  found  not  an 
armed  man  there.  After  the  archers  had  thus  gone  forth,  the 
knights  landed  all  armed,  with  their  hauberks  on,  their  shields 
slung  at  their  necks,  and  their  helmets  laced.  They  formed  to- 
gether on  the  shore,  each  armed,  and  mounted  on  his  war-horse  : 
all  had  their  swords  girded  on,  and  rode  forward  into  the  coun- 
try with  their  lances  raised.  Then  the  carpenters  landed,  who 
had  great  axes  in  their  hands,  and  planes  and  adzes  hung  at  their 
sides.  They  took  counsel  together,  and  sought  for  a  good  spot 
to  place  a  castle  on.  They  had  brought  with  them  in  the  fleet 
three  wooden  castles  from  Normandy,  in  pieces,  all  ready  for 
•framing  together,  and  they  took  the  materials  of  one  of  these 
out  of  the  ships,  all  shaped  and  pierced  to  receive  the  pins 
which  they  had  brought  cut  and  ready  in  large  barrels ;  and  be- 
fore evening  had  set  in  they  had  finished  a  good  fort  on  the 
English  ground,  and  there  they  placed  their  stores.  All  then 
ate  and  drank  enough,  and  were  right  glad  that  they  were 
ashore. 

"When  Duke  William  himself  landed,  as  he  stepped  on  the 
shore,  he  slipped  and  fell  forward  upon  his  two  hands.  Forth- 
with all  raised  a  loud  cry  of  distress.  '  An  evil  sign,'  said  they, 
*  is  here.'  But  he  cried  out  lustily,  '  See,  my  lords  !  by  the 
splendor  of  God,*  I  have  taken  possession  of  England  with  both 
my  hands.     It  is  now  mine ;  and  what  is  mine  is  yours.' 

"  The  next  day  they  marched  along  the  sea-shore  to  Hastings. 
Near  that  place  the  duke  fortified  a  camp,  and  set  up  the  two 
other  wooden  castles.  The  foragers,  and  those  who  looked  out 
for  booty,  seized  all  the  clothing  and  provisions  they  could  find, 
lest  what  had  been  brought  by  the  ships  should  fail  them.  And 
the  English  were  to  be  seen  fleeing  before  them,  driving  off 
their  cattle,  and  quitting  their  houses.  Many  took  shelter  in 
burying-places,  and  even  there  they  were  in  grievous  alarm." 

Besides  the  marauders  from  the  Norman  camp,  strong  bodies 
of  cavalry  were  detached  by  William  into  the  country,  and  these, 
when  Harold  and  his  army  made  their  rapid  march  from  Lon- 
don southward,  fell  back  in  good  order  upon  the  main  body  of 
the  Normans,  and  reported  that  the  Saxon  king  was  rushing  on 

*  William's  customary  oath. 


BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS.  183 

like  a  madman.  But  Harold,  when  he  found  that  his  hopes  of 
surprising  his  adversary  were  vain,  changed  his  tactics,  and 
halted  about  seven  miles  from  the  Norman  lines.  He  sent  some 
spies,  who  spoke  the  French  language,  to  examine  the  number 
and  preparations  of  the  enemy,  who,  on  their  return,  related 
with  astonishment  that  there  were  more  priests  in  William's 
camp  than  there  were  fighting  men  in  the  English  army.  They 
had  mistaken  for  priests  all  the  Norman  soldiers  who  had  short 
hair  and  shaven  chins ;  for  the  English  laymen  were  then  ac- 
customed to  wear  long  hair  and  mustachios.  Harold,  who  knew 
the  Norman  usages,  smiled  at  their  words  and  said,  "Those 
whom  you  have  seen  in  such  numbers  are  not  priests,  but  stout 
soldiers,  as  they  will  soon  make  us  feel." 

Harold's  army  was  far  inferior  in  number  to  that  of  the  Nor- 
mans, and  some  of  his  captains  advised  him  to  retreat  upon 
London,  and  lay  waste  the  country,  so  as  to  starve  down  the 
strength  of  the  invaders.  The  policy  thus  recommended  was 
unquestionably  the  wisest ;  for  the  Saxon  fleet  had  now  reas- 
sembled, and  intercepted  all  William's  communications  with 
Normandy ;  so  that  as  soon  as  his  stores  of  provisions  were  ex- 
hausted he  must  have  moved  forward  upon  London ;  where 
Harold,  at  the  head  of  the  full  military  strength  of  the  king- 
dom, could  have  defied  his  assault,  and  probably  might  have 
witnessed  his  rival's  destruction  by  famine  and  disease,  without 
having  to  strike  a  single  blow.  But  Harold's  bold  blood  was 
up,  and  his  kindly  heart  could  not  endure  to  inflict  on  his  South 
Saxon  subjects  even  the  temporary  misery  of  wasting  the  coun- 
try. "  He  would  not  burn  houses  and  villages,  neither  would  he 
take  away  the  substance  of  his  people." 

Harold's  brothers,  Gurth  and  Leofwine,  were  with  him  in  the 
camp,  and  Gurth  endeavored  to  persuade  him  to  absent  himself 
from  the  battle.  The  incident  shows  how  well  devised  had 
been  William's  scheme  of  binding  Harold  by  the  oath  on  the 
holy  relics.  "  My  brother,"  said  the  young  Saxon  prince,  "  thou 
canst  not  deny  that  either  by  force  or  free-will  thou  hast  made 
Duke  William  an  oath  on  the  bodies  of  saints.  Why  then  risk 
thyself  in  the  battle  with  a  perjury  upon  thee?  To  us,  who 
have  sworn  nothing,  this  is  a  holy  and  a  just  war,  for  we  are 
fighting  for  our  country.  Leave  us,  then,  alone  to  fight  this 
battle,  and  he  who  has  the  right  wdll  win."  Harold  replied  that 
he  would  not  look  on  while  others  risked  their  lives  for  him. 
Men  would  hold  him  a  coward,  and  blame  him  for  sending  his 
best  friends  where  he  dared  not  go  himself.     He  resolved,  there- 


184  BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS. 

fore,  to  fight,  and  to  fight  in  person ;  but  he  was  still  too  good 
a  general  to  be  the  assailant  in  the  action.  He  strengthened  his 
position  on  the  hill  where  he  had  halted,  by  a  palisade  of  stakes 
interlaced  with  osier  hurdles,  and  there,  he  said,  he  would  de- 
fend himself  against  whoever  should  seek  him, 

The  ruins  of  Battle  Abbey  at  this  hour  attest  the  place  where 
Harold's  army  was  posted.  The  high  altar  of  the  abbey  stood 
on  the  very  spot  where  Harold's  own  standard  was  planted  dur- 
ing the  fight,  and  where  the  carnage  was  the  thickest.  Imme- 
diately after  his  victory  William  vowed  to  build  an  abbey  on  the 
site  ;  and  a  fair  and  stately  pile  soon  rose  there,  where  for  many 
ages  the  monks  prayed  and  said  masses  for  the  souls  of  those 
who  were  slain  in  the  battle,  whence  the  abbey  took  its  name. 
Before  that  time  the  place  was  called  Senlac.  Little  of  the  an- 
cient edifice  now  remains;  but  it  is  easy  to  trace  among  its 
relics  and  in  the  neighborhood  the  scenes  of  the  chief  incidents 
in  the  action ;  and  it  is  impossible  to  deny  the  generalship 
shown  by  Harold  in  stationing  his  men ;  especially  when  we 
bear  in  mind  that  he  was  deficient  in  cavalry,  the  arm  in  which 
his  adversary's  main  strength  consisted. 

A  neck  of  hills  trends  inward  for  nearly  seven  miles  from 
the  high  ground  immediately  to  the  northeast  of  Hastings. 
The  line  of  this  neck  of  hills  is  from  southeast  to  northwest, 
and  the  usual  route  from  Hastings  to  London  must,  in  ancient 
as  in  modern  times,  have  been  along  its  summits.  At  the  dis- 
tance from  Hastings  which  has  been  mentioned,  the  continuous 
chain  of  hills  ceases.  A  valley  must  be  crossed,  and  on  the 
other  side  of  it,  opposite  to  the  last  of  the  neck  of  hills,  rises  a 
high  ground  of  some  extent,  facing  to  the  southeast.  This 
high  ground,  then  termed  Senlac,  was  occupied  by  Harold's 
army.  It  could  not  be  attacked  in  front  without  considerable 
disadvantage  to  the  assailants,  and  could  hardly  be  turned  with- 
out those  engaged  in  the  manoeuvre  exposing  themselves  to  a 
fatal  charge  in  flank,  while  they  wound  round  the  base  of  the 
height,  and  underneath  the  ridges  which  project  from  it  on 
either  side.  There  was  a  rough  and  thickly  wooded  district  in 
the  rear,  which  seemed  to  offer  Harold  great  facilities  for  rally- 
ing his  men,  and  checking  the  progress  of  the  enemy,  if  they 
should  succeed  in  forcing  him  back  from  his  post.  And  it 
seemed  scarcely  possible  that  the  Normans,  if  they  met  with 
any  repulse,  could  save  themselves  from  utter  destruction. 
With  such  hopes  and  expectations  (which  cannot  be  termed  un- 
reasonable, though  "  Successum  Dea  dira  negavit ")  King  Har* 


BATTLE  OF  HASTTN08, 


185 


old  bade  his  standard  be  set  up  a  little  way  down  the  slope  of 
Senlac-hill,  at  the  point  where  the  ascent  from  the  valley  was 
least  steep,  and  on  which  the  fiercest  attacks  of  the  advancing 
enemy  were  sure  to  be  directed. 

The  foundation-stones  of  the  high  altar  of  Battle  Abbey  have 
during  late  years  been  discovered ;  and  we  may  place  our  feet 


PLAN   OP  BATTLE   OP  HASTINGS. 


on  the  very  spot  where  Harold  stood,  with  England's  banner 
waving  over  him  ;  where,  when  the  battle  was  joined,  he  de- 
fended himself  to  the  utmost ;  where  the  fatal  arrow  came  down 
on  him  ;  where  he  "  leaned  in  agony  on  his  shield  ;"  and  where 
at  last  he  was  beaten  to  the  earth,  and  with  him  the  Saxon  ban- 
ner was  beaten  down,  like  him  never  to  rise  again.  The  ruins 
of  the  altar  are  a  little  to  the  west  of  the  high  road,  which  leads 
from  Hastings  along  the  neck  of  hills  already  described,  across 
the  valley,  and  through  the  modern  town  of  Battle,  towards 


186  BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS. 

London.  Before  a  railway  was  made  along  this  valley,  some  of 
the  old  local  features  were  more  easy  than  now  to  recognize. 
The  eye  then  at  once  saw  that  the  ascent  from  the  valley  was 
least  steep  at  the  point  which  Harold  selected  for  his  own  post 
in  the  engagement.  But  this  is  still  sufficiently  discernible ; 
and  we  can  fix  the  spot,  a  little  lower  down  the  slope,  immedi- 
ately in  front  of  the  high  altar,  where  the  brave  Kentish  men 
stood,  "  whose  right  it  was  to  strike  first  whenever  the  king 
went  to  battle,"  and  who,  therefore,  were  placed  where  the  Nor- 
mans would  be  most  likely  to  make  their  first  charge.  Round 
Harold  himself,  and  where  the  plantations  wave  which  now  sur- 
round the  high  altar's  ruins,  stood  the  men  of  London,  "  whose 
privilege  it  was  to  guard  the  king's  body,  to  place  themselves 
around  it,  and  to  guard  his  standard."  On  the  right  and  left 
were  ranged  the  other  warriors  of  central  and  southern  England, 
whose  shires  the  old  Norman  chronicler  distorts  in  his  French 
nomenclature.  Looking  thence  in  the  direction  of  Hastings,  we 
can  distinguish  the  "  ridge  of  the  rising  ground  over  which  the 
Normans  appeared  advancing."  It  is  the  nearest  of  the  neck  of 
hills.  It  is  along  that  hill  that  Harold  and  his  brothers  saw  ap- 
proach in  succession  the  three  divisions  of  the  Norman  army. 
The  Normans  came  down  that  slope,  and  then  formed  in  the 
valley,  so  as  to  assault  the  whole  front  of  the  English  position. 
Duke  William's  own  division,  with  "  the  best  men  and  greatest 
strength  of  the  army,"  made  the  Norman  centre,  and  charged 
the  English  immediately  in  front  of  Harold's  banner,  as  the 
nature  of  the  ground  had  led  the  Saxon  king  to  anticipate. 

There  are  few  battles  the  localities  of  which  can  be  more  com- 
pletely traced ;  and  the  whole  scene  is  fraught  with  associa- 
tions of  deep  interest ;  but  the  spot  which,  most  of  all,  awakens 
our  sympathy  and  excites  our  feelings,  is  that  where  Harold 
himself  fought  and  fell.  The  crumbling  fragments  of  the  gray 
altar-stones,  with  the  wild-flowers  that  cling  around  their  base, 
seem  fitting  memorials  of  the  brave  Saxon  who  there  bowed  his 
head  in  death ;  while  the  laurel-trees  that  are  planted  near,  and 
wave  over  the  ruins,  remind  us  of  the  Conqueror,  who  there,  at 
the  close  of  that  dreadful  day,  reared  his  victorious  standard 
high  over  the  trampled  banner  of  the  Saxon,  and  held  his  trium- 
phant carousal  amid  the  corses  of  the  slain,  with  his  Norman 
chivalry  exulting  around  him. 

When  it  was  known  in  the  invaders'  camp  at  Hastings  that 
King  Harold  had  marched  southward  with  his  power,  but  a  brief 
interval  ensued  before  the  two  hosts  met  in  decisive  encounter. 


BATTLE  OP  HASTINGS.  187 

William's  only  chance  of  safety  lay  in  bringing  on  a  general 
engagement ;  and  he  joyfully  advanced  his  army  from  their  camp 
on  the  hill  over  Hastings,  nearer  to  the  Saxon  position.  But 
he  neglected  no  means  of  weakening  his  opponent,  and  renewed 
his  summonses  and  demands  on  Harold  with  an  ostentatious  air 
of  sanctity  and  moderation. 

"  A  monk  named  Hugues  Maigrot  came  in  William's  name  to 
call  upon  the  Saxon  king  to  do  one  of  three  things — either  to 
resign  his  royalty  in  favor  of  William,  or  to  refer  it  to  the  arbi- 
tration of  the  pope  to  decide  which  of  the  two  ought  to  be  king, 
or  to  let  it  be  determined  by  the  issue  of  a  single  combat. 
Harold  abruptly  replied,  '  I  will  not  resign  my  title,  I  will  not 
refer  it  to  the  pope,  nor  will  I  accept  the  single  combat.'  He 
was  far  from  being  deficient  in  bravery ;  but  he  was  no  more  at 
liberty  to  stake  the  crown  which  he  had  received  from  a  whole 
people  on  the  chance  of  a  duel  than  to  deposit  it  in  the  hands 
of  an  Italian  priest.  William  was  not  at  all  ruffled  by  the  Sax- 
on's refusal,  but  steadily  pursuing  the  course  of  his  calculated 
measures,  sent  the  Norman  monk  again,  after  giving  him  these 
instructions:  'Go  and  tell  Harold  that  if  he  will  keep  his 
former  compact  with  me,  I  will  leave  to  him  all  the  country 
which  is  beyond  the  Humber,  and  will  give  his  brother  Gurth 
all  the  lands  which  Godwin  held.  If  he  still  persist  in  refusing 
my  offers,  then  thou  shalt  tell  him,  before  all  his  people,  that  he 
is  a  perjurer  and  a  liar ;  that  he,  and  all  who  shall  support  him, 
are  excommunicated  by  the  mouth  of  the  pope ;  and  that  the 
bull  to  that  effect  is  in  my  hands.' 

"  Hugues  Maigrot  delivered  this  message  in  a  solemn  tone ; 
and  the  Norman  chronicle  says  that  at  the  word  excommunication 
the  English  chiefs  looked  at  one  another  as  if  some  great  danger 
were  impending.  One  of  them  then  spoke  as  follows  :  '  We 
must  fight,  whatever  may  be  the  danger  to  us ;  for  what  we  have 
to  consider  is  not  whether  we  shall  accept  and  receive  a  new 
lord  as  if  our  king  were  dead  :  the  case  is  quite  otherwise.  The 
Norman  has  given  our  lands  to  his  captains,  to  his  knights,  to 
all  his  people,  the  greater  part  of  whom  have  already  done 
homage  to  him  for  them ;  they  will  all  look  for  their  gift,  if 
their  duke  become  our  king ;  and  he  himself  is  bound  to  de- 
liver up  to  them  our  goods,  our  wives,  and  our  daughters :  all  is 
promised  to  them  beforehand.  They  come,  not  only  to  ruin  us, 
but  to  ruin  our  descendants  also,  and  to  take  from  us  the  coun- 
try of  our  ancestors.  And  what  shall  we  do — whither  shall  we 
go — when  we  have  no  longer  a  country  ?'    The  English  promised, 


188  BATTLE  OF  HASTmoS. 

by  a  unanimous  oath,  to  make  neither  peace  nor  truce  nor 
treaty  with  the  invader,  but  to  die  or  drive  away  the  Nor- 
mans." * 

The  13th  of  October  was  occupied  in  these  negotiations;  and 
at  night  the  duke  announced  to  his  men  that  the  next  day  would 
be  the  day  of  battle.  That  night  is  said  to  have  been  passed  by 
the  two  armies  in  very  different  manners.  The  Saxon  soldiers 
spent  it  in  joviality,  singing  their  national  songs,  and  draining 
huge  horns  of  ale  and  wine  round  their  camp-fires.  The  Nor- 
mans, when  they  had  looked  to  their  arms  and  horses,  confessed 
themselves  to  the  priests,  with  whom  their  camp  was  thronged, 
and  received  the  sacrament  by  thousands  at  a  time. 

On  Saturday,  the  14th  of  October,  was  fought  the  great  bat- 
tle. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  compose  a  narrative  of  its  principal  inci- 
dents, from  the  historical  information  which  we  possess,  espe- 
cially if  aided  by  an  examination  of  the  ground.  But  it  is  far 
better  to  adopt  the  spirit-stirring  words  of  the  old  chroniclers, 
who  wrote  while  the  recollections  of  the  battle  were  yet  fresh, 
and  while  the  feelings  and  prejudices  of  the  combatants  yet 
glowed  in  the  bosoms  of  their  near  descendants.  Robert  Wace, 
the  Norman  poet,  who  presented  his  "  Roman  de  Rou  "  to  our 
Henry  II.,  is  the  most  picturesque  and  animated  of  the  old 
writers ;  and  from  him  we  can  obtain  a  more  vivid  and  full  de- 
scription of  the  conflict  than  even  the  most  brilliant  romance- 
writer  of  the  present  time  can  supply.  We  have  also  an  antique 
memorial  of  the  battle,  more  to  be  relied  on  than  either  chron- 
icler or  poet  (and  which  confirms  Wace's  narrative  remarkably), 
in  the  celebrated  Bayeux  tapestry,  which  represents  the  princi- 
pal scenes  of  Duke  William's  expedition,  and  of  the  circum- 
stances connected  with  it,  in  minute  though  occasionally  gro- 
tesque details,  and  which  was  undoubtedly  the  production  of  the 
same  age  in  which  the  battle  took  place,  whether  we  admit  or 
reject  the  legend  that  Queen  Matilda  and  the  ladies  of  her  court 
wrought  it  with  their  own  hands  in  honor  of  the  royal  Con- 
queror. 

Let  us  therefore  suffer  the  old  Norman  chronicler  to  transport 
our  imaginations  to  the  fair  Sussex  scenery,  northwest  of  Hast- 
ings, with  its  breezy  uplands,  its  grassy  slopes,  and  ridges  of 
open  down  swelling  inland  from  the  sparkling  sea,  its  scattered 
copses,  and  its  denser  glades  of  intervening  forests,  clad  in  all 

*  Thierry. 


BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS.  189 

the  varied  tints  of  autumn,  as  they  appeared  on  the  morning  of 
the  fourteenth  of  October,  seven  hundred  and  eighty-five  years 
ago.  The  Norman  host  is  pouring  fortii  from  its  tents;  and 
each  troop,  and  each  company,  is  forming  fast  under  the  banner 
of  its  leader.  The  masses  have  been  sung,  which  were  finished 
betimes  in  the  morning;  the  barons  have  all  assembled  round 
Duke  William ;  and  the  duke  has  ordered  that  the  army  shall 
be  formed  in  three  divisions,  so  as  to  make  the  attack  upon  the 
Saxon  position  in  three  places.  The  duke  stood  on  a  hill  where 
he  could  best  see  his  men ;  the  barons  surrounded  him,  and  he 
spake  to  them  proudly.  He  told  them  how  he  trusted  them, 
and  how  all  that  he  gained  should  be  theirs ;  and  how  sure  he 
felt  of  conquest,  for  in  all  the  world  there  was  not  so  brave  an 
army  or  such  good  men  and  true  as  were  then  forming  around 
him.  Then  they  cheered  him  in  turn,  and  cried  out,  " '  You 
will  not  see  one  coward ;  none  here  will  fear  to  die  for  love  of 
you,  if  need  be.'  And  he  answered  them,  '  I  thank  you  well. 
For  God's  sake  spare  not;  strike  hard  at  the  beginning;  stay 
not  to  take  spoil ;  all  the  booty  shall  be  in  common,  and  there 
will  be  plenty  for  every  one.  There  will  be  no  safety  in  asking 
quarter  or  in  flight :  the  English  will  never  love  or  spare  a  Nor- 
man. Felons  they  were,  and  felons  they  are ;  false  they  were, 
and  false  they  will  be.  Show  no  weakness  towards  them,  for 
they  will  have  no  pity  on  you.  Neither  the  coward  for  running 
well,  nor  the  bold  man  for  smiting  well,  will  be  the  better  liked 
by  the  English,  nor  will  any  be  the  more  spared  on  either  ac- 
count. You  may  fly  to  the  sea,  but  you  can  fly  no  farther ;  you 
will  find  neither  ships  nor  bridge  there ;  there  will  be  no  sailors 
to  receive  you  ;  and  the  English  will  overtake  you  there  and  slay 
you  in  your  shame.  More  of  you  will  die  in  flight  than  in  the 
battle.  Then,  as  flight  will  not  secure  you,  fight,  and  you  will 
conquer.  I  have  no  doubt  of  the  victory :  we  are  come  for 
glory,  the  victory  is  in  our  hands,  and  we  may  make  sure  of  ob- 
taining it  if  we  so  please.'  As  the  duke  was  speaking  thus, 
and  would  yet  have  spoken  more,  William  Fitz  Osber  rode  up, 
with  his  horse  all  coated  with  iron :  '  Sire,'  said  he,  '  we  tarry 
here  too  long,  let  us  all  arm  ourselves.     Allans!  Allans P 

"  Then  all  went  to  their  tents,  and  armed  themselves  as  they 
best  might ;  and  the  duke  was  very  busy,  giving  every  one  his 
orders;  and  he  was  courteous  to  all  the  vassals,  giving  away 
many  arms  and  horses  to  them.  When  he  prepared  to  arm  him- 
self, he  called  first  for  his  good  hauberk,  and  a  man  brought  it 
on  his  arm,  and  placed  it  before  him,  but  in  putting  his  head  in, 


190  BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS. 

to  get  it  on,  he  unawares  turned  it  the  wrong  way,  with  the  back 
part  in  front.  He  soon  changed  it,  but  when  he  saw  that  those 
who  stood  by  were  sorely  alarmed,  he  said,  *  I  have  seen  many 
a  man  who,  if  such  a  thing  had  happened  to  him,  would  not  have 
borne  arms,  or  entered  the  field  the  same  day  ;  but  I  never  be- 
lieved in  omens,  and  I  never  will.  I  trust  in  God,  for  he  does 
in  all  things  his  pleasure,  and  ordains  what  is  to  come  to  pass, 
according  to  his  will.  I  have  never  liked  fortune-tellers,  nor 
believed  in  diviners ;  but  I  commend  myself  to  our  Lady.  Let 
not  this  mischance  give  you  trouble.  The  hauberk  which  was 
turned  wrong,  and  then  set  right  by  me,  signifies  that  a  change 
will  arise  out  of  the  matter  which  we  are  now  stirring.  You 
shall  see  the  name  of  duke  changed  into  king.  Yea,  a  king 
shall  I  be,  who  hitherto  have  been  but  duke.'  Then  he  crossed 
himself,  and  straightway  took  his  hauberk,  stooped  his  head, 
and  put  it  on  aright,  and  laced  his  helmet,  and  girt  on  his  sword, 
which  a  varlet  brought  him.  Then  the  duke  called  for  his  good 
horse — a  better  could  not  be  found.  It  had  been  sent  him  by 
a  king  of  Spain,  out  of  very  great  friendship.  Neither  arms  nor 
the  press  of  fighting  men  did  it  fear,  if  its  lord  spurred  it  on. 
Walter  Giffard  brought  it.  The  duke  stretched  out  his  hand, 
took  the  reins,  put  foot  in  stirrup,  and  mounted ;  and  the  good 
horse  pawed,  pranced,  reared  himself  up,  and  curveted.  The 
Viscount  of  Toarz  saw  how  the  duke  bore  himself  in  arms,  and 
said  to  his  people  that  were  around  him,  '  Never  have  I  seen  a 
man  so  fairly  armed,  nor  one  who  rode  so  gallantly,  or  bore  his 
arms  or  became  his  hauberk  so  well ;  neither  any  one  who  bore 
his  lance  so  gracefully,  or  sat  his  horse  and  managed  him  so 
nobly.  There  is  no  such  knight  under  heaven  !  a  fair  count  he 
is,  and  fair  king  he  will  be.  Let  him  fight,  and  he  shall  over- 
come :  shame  be  to  the  man  who  shall  fail  him.' 

*'Then  the  duke  called  for  the  standard  which  the  pope  had 
sent  him,  and  he  who  bore  it  having  unfolded  it,  the  duke  took 
it,  and  called  to  Raol  de  Conches.  *  Bear  my  standard,'  said  he, 
'  for  I  would  not  but  do  you  right ;  by  right  and  by  ancestry 
your  line  are  standard-bearers  of  Normandy,  and  very  good 
knights  have  they  all  been.'  But  Raol  said  that  he  would  serve 
the  duke  that  day  in  other  guise,  and  would  fight  the  English 
with  his  hand  as  long  as  life  should  last.  Then  the  duke  bade 
Galtier  Giffart  bear  the  standard.  But  he  was  old  and  white- 
headed,  and  bade  the  duke  give  the  standard  to  some  younger 
and  stronger  man  to  carry.  "  Then  the  duke  said  fiercely,  '  By 
the  splendor  of  God,  my  lords,  I  think  you  mean  to  betray  and 


BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS.  191 

fail  me  in  this  great  need.'  '  Sire,'  said  Giffart,  '  not  so !  we 
have  done  no  treason,  nor  do  I  refuse  from  any  felony  towards 
you  ;  but  I  have  to  lead  a  great  chivalry,  both  hired  men  and 
the  men  of  my  fief.  Never  had  I  such  good  means  of  serving 
you  as  I  now  have ;  and  if  God  please,  I  will  serve  you ;  if  need 
be,  I  will  die  for  you,  and  will  give  my  own  heart  for  yours.' 

" '  By  my  faith,'  quoth  the  duke,  '  I  always  loved  thee,  and 
now  I  love  thee  more ;  if  I  survive  this  day,  thou  shalt  be  the 
better  for  it  all  thy  days.'  Then  he  called  out  a  knight,  whom 
he  had  heard  much  praised,  Tosteins  Fitz-Rou  le  Blanc  by  name, 
whose  abode  was  at  Bec-en-Caux.  To  him  he  delivered  the 
standard ;  and  Tosteins  took  it  right  cheerfully,  and  bowed  low 
to  him  in  thanks,  and  bore  it  gallantly,  and  with  good  heart. 
His  kindred  still  have  quittance  of  all  service  for  their  inherit- 
ance on  that  account,  and  their  heirs  are  entitled  so  to  hold  their 
inheritance  forever. 

"  William  sat  on  his  war-horse,  and  called  on  Rogier,  whom 
they  call  De  Mongomeri.  '  I  rely  much  upon  you,'  said  he ; 
*  lead  your  men  thitherward,  and  attack  them  from  that  side. 
William,  the  son  of  Osber  the  seneschal,  a  right  good  vassal, 
shall  go  with  you  and  help  in  the  attack,  and  you  shall  have  the 
men  of  Boulogne  and  Poix,  and  all  my  soldiers.  Alain  Fergert 
and  Ameri  shall  attack  on  the  other  side ;  they  shall  lead  the 
Poitevins  and  the  Bretons,  and  all  the  barons  of  Maine ;  and  I, 
with  my  own  great  men,  my  friends  and  kindred,  will  fight  in 
the  middle  throng,  where  the  battle  shall  be  the  hottest.' 

"The  barons,  and  knights,  and  men-at-arms  were  all  now 
armed ;  the  foot-soldiers  were  well  equipped,  each  bearing  bow 
and  sword ;  on  their  heads  were  caps,  and  to  their  feet  were 
bound  buskins.  Some  had  good  hides  which  they  had  bound 
round  their  bodies ;  and  many  were  clad  in  frocks,  and  had 
quivers  and  bows  hung  to  their  girdles.  The  knights  had  hau- 
berks and  swords,  boots  of  steel  and  shining  helmets ;  shields 
at  their  necks,  and  in  their  hands  lances.  And  all  had  their 
cognizances,  so  that  each  might  know  his  fellow,  and  Norman 
might  not  strike  Norman,  nor  Frenchman  kill  his  countryman 
by  mistake.  Those  on  foot  led  the  way,  with  serried  ranks, 
bearing  their  bows.  The  knights  rode  next,  supporting  the 
archers  from  behind.  Thus  both  horse  and  foot  kept  their 
course  and  order  of  march  as  they  began ;  in  close  ranks,  at  a 
gentle  pace,  that  the  one  might  not  pass  or  separate  from  the 
other.  All  went  firmly  and  compactly,  bearing  themselves  gal- 
lantly. 


192  BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS. 

"  Harold  had  summoned  his  men,  earls,  barons,  and  vavas- 
Bours,  from  the  castles  and  the  cities ;  from  the  ports,  the  vil- 
lages, and  boroughs.  The  peasants  were  also  called  together 
from  the  villages,  bearing  such  arms  as  they  found ;  clubs  and 
great  picks,  iron  forks  and  stakes.  The  English  had  enclosed 
the  place  where  Harold  was,  with  his  friends  and  the  barons  of 
the  country  whom  he  had  summoned  and  called  together. 

"Those  of  London  had  come  at  once,  and  those  of  Kent, 
Hertfort,  and  of  Essesse ;  those  of  Suree  and  Susesse,  of  St. 
Edmund  and  Sufoc ;  of  Norwis  and  Norf oc ;  of  Cantorbierre 
and  Stanfort ;  Bedefort  and  Hundetone.  The  men  of  Northan- 
ton  also  came ;  and  those  of  Eurowic  and  Bokinkeham,  of  Bed 
and  Notinkeham,  Lindesie  and  Nichole.  There  came  also  from 
the  west  all  who  heard  the  summons ;  and  very  many  were  to 
be  seen  coming  from  Salebiere  and  Dorset,  from  Bat  and  from 
Somerset.  Many  came,  too,  from  about  Glocestre,  and  many 
from  Wirecestre,  from  Wincestre,  Hontesire,  and  Brichesire ; 
and  many  more  from  other  counties  that  we  have  not  named, 
and  cannot  indeed  recount.  All  who  could  bear  arms,  and  had 
learned  the  news  of  the  duke's  arrival,  came  to  defend  the  land. 
But  none  came  from  beyond  Humbre,  for  they  had  other  business 
upon  their  hands;  the  Danes  and  Tosti  having  much  damaged 
and  weakened  them. 

"  Harold  knew  that  the  Normans  would  come  and  attack  him 
hand  to  hand ;  so  he  had  early  enclosed  the  field  in  which  he 
placed  his  men.  He  made  them  arm  early,  and  range  themselves 
for  the  battle ;  he  himself  having  put  on  arms  and  equipments 
that  became  such  a  lord.  The  duke,  he  said,  ought  to  seek  him, 
as  he  wanted  to  conquer  England ;  and  it  became  him  to  abide 
the  attack,  who  had  to  defend  the  land.  He  commanded  the 
people,  and  counselled  his  barons  to  keep  themselves  all  together, 
and  defend  themselves  in  a  body ;  for  if  they  once  separated, 
they  would  with  difficulty  recover  themselves.  'The  Normans,' 
he  said,  '  are  good  vassals,  valiant  on  foot  and  on  horseback ; 
good  knights  are  they  on  horseback,  and  well  used  to  battle ;  all 
is  lost  if  they  once  penetrate  our  ranks.  They  have  brought 
long  lances  and  swords,  but  you  have  pointed  lances  and  keen- 
edged  bills;  and  I  do  not  expect  that  their  arms  can  stand 
against  yours.  Cleave  wherever  you  can ;  it  will  be  ill  done  if 
you  spare  aught.' 

"  The  English  had  built  up  a  fence  before  them  with  their 
shields  and  with  ash  and  other  wood ;  and  had  well  joined  and 
wattled  in  the  whole  work,  so  as  not  to  leave  even  a  crevice ; 


Battle  op  hastiiVgs.  193 

and  thus  they  had  a  barricade  in  their  front  through  which  any 
Norman  who  would  attack  them  must  first  pass.  Being  covered 
in  this  way  by  their  shields  and  barricades,  their  aim  was  to  de- 
fend themselves ;  and  if  they  had  remained  steady  for  that  pur- 
pose they  would  not  have  been  conquered  that  day ;  for  every 
Norman  who  made  his  way  in  lost  his  life,  either  by  hatchet  or 
bill,  by  club,  or  other  weapons.  They  wore  short  and  close  hau- 
berks, and  helmets  that  hung  over  their  garments.  King  Harold 
issued  orders  and  made  proclamation  round  that  all  should  be 
ranged  with  their  faces  towards  the  enemy ;  and  that  no  one 
should  move  from  where  he  was ;  so  that,  whoever  came,  might 
find  them  ready ;  and  that  whatever  any  one,  be  he  Norman  or 
other,  should  do,  each  should  do  his  best  to  defend  his  own 
place.  Then  he  ordered  the  men  of  Kent  to  go  where  the  Nor- 
mans were  likely  to  make  the  attack ;  for  they  say  that  the  men 
of  Kent  are  entitled  to  strike  first ;  and  that  whenever  the  king 
goes  to  battle,  the  first  blow  belongs  to  them.  The  right  of  the 
men  of  London  is  to  guard  the  king's  body,  to  place  themselves 
around  him,  and  to  guard  his  standard ;  and  they  were  accord- 
ingly placed  by  the  standard  to  watch  and  defend  it. 

"  When  Harold  had  made  his  reply  and  given  his  orders,  he 
came  into  the  midst  of  the  English,  and  dismounted  by  the  side 
of  the  standard:  Leofwin  and  Gurth,  his  brothers,  were  with 
him,  and  around  him  he  had  barons  enough,  as  he  stood  by  his 
standard,  which  was  in  truth  a  noble  one,  sparkling  with  gold 
and  precious  stones.  After  the  victory,  William  sent  it  to  the 
pope,  to  prove  and  commemorate  his  great  conquest  and  glory. 
The  English  stood  in  close  ranks,  ready  and  eager  for  the  fight ; 
and  they  moreover  made  a  fosse,  which  went  across  the  field, 
guarding  one  side  of  their  army. 

"  Meanwhile  the  Normans  appeared  advancing  over  the  ridge 
of  a  rising  ground ;  and  the  first  division  of  their  troops  moved 
onwards  along  the  hill  and  across  a  valley.  And  presently  an- 
other division,  still  larger,  came  in  sight,  close  following  upon 
the  first,  and  they  were  led  towards  another  part  of  the  field, 
forming  together  as  the  first  body  had  done.  And  while  Harold 
saw  and  examined  them,  and  was  pointing  them  out  to  Gurth,  a 
fresh  company  came  in  sight,  covering  all  the  plain ;  and  in  the 
midst  of  them  was  raised  the  standard  that  came  from  Rome. 
Near  it  was  the  duke,  and  the  best  men  and  greatest  strength  of 
the  army  were  there.  The  good  knights,  the  good  vassals,  and 
brave  warriors  were  there  ;  and  there  were  gathered  together  the 
gentle  barons,  the  good  archers,  and  the  men-at-arms,  whose  duty 


194  BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS. 

it  was  to  guard  the  duke,  and  range  themselves  around  him. 
The  youths  and  common  herd  of  the  camp,  whose  business  was 
not  to  join  in  the  battle,  but  to  take  care  of  the  harness  and 
stores,  moved  off  towards  a  rising  ground.  The  priests  and  the 
clerks  also  ascended  a  hill,  there  to  offer  up  prayers  to  God,  and 
watch  the  event  of  the  battle. 

"  The  English  stood  firm  on  foot  in  close  ranks,  and  carried 
themselves  right  boldly.  Each  man  had  his  hauberk  on,  with 
his  sword  girt,  and  his  shield  at  his  neck.  Great  hatchets  were 
also  slung  at  their  necks,  with  which  they  expected  to  strike 
heavy  blows. 

''  The  Normans  brought  on  the  three  divisions  of  their  army 
to  attack  at  different  places.  They  set  out  in  three  companies, 
and  in  three  companies  did  they  fight.  The  first  and  second 
had  come  up,  and  then  advanced  the  third,  which  was  the  great- 
est ;  with  that  came,  the  duke  with  his  own  men,  and  all  moved 
boldly  forward. 

"  As  soon  as  the  two  armies  were  in  full  view  of  each  other, 
great  noise  and  tumult  arose.  You  might  hear  the  sound  of 
many  trumpets,  of  bugles,  and  of  horns;  and  then  you  might 
see  men  ranging  themselves  in  line,  lifting  their  shields,  raising 
their  lances,  bending  their  bows,  handling  their  arrows,  ready 
for  assault  and  defence. 

"  The  English  stood  ready  to  their  post,  the  Normans  still 
moved  on ;  and  when  they  drew  near,  the  English  were  to  be 
seen  stirring  to  and  fro ;  were  going  and  coming ;  troops  rang- 
ing themselves  in  order;  some  with  their  color  rising,  others 
turning  pale ;  some  making  ready  their  arms,  others  raising 
their  shields ;  the  brave  man  rousing  himself  to  fight,  the  cow- 
ard trembling  at  the  approach  of  danger. 

"  Then  Taillefer,  who  sang  right  well,  rode  mounted  on  a  swift 
horse,  before  the  duke,  singing  of  Charlemagne  and  of  Roland, 
of  Olivier  and  the  peers  who  died  in  Roncesvalles.  And  when 
they  drew  nigh  to  the  English,  '  A  boon,  sire !'  cried  Taillefer ; 
'  I  have  long  served  you,  and  you  owe  me  for  all  such  service. 
To-day,  so  please  you,  you  shall  repay  it.  I  ask  as  my  guerdon, 
and  beseech  you  for  it  earnestly,  that  you  will  allow  me  to  strike 
the  first  blow  in  the  battle  !'  And  the  duke  answered,  '  I  grant 
it.'  Then  Taillefer  put  his  horse  to  a  gallop,  charging  before  all 
the  rest,  and  struck  an  Englishman  dead,  driving  his  lance  be- 
low the  breast  into  his  body,  and  stretching  him  upon  the  ground. 
Then  he  drew  his  sword,  and  struck  another,  crying  out, '  Come 
on,  come  on  !     What  do  ye,  sirs  ?  lay  on,  lay  on  !'     At  the  sec- 


BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS.  195 

ond  blow  he  struck,  the  English  pushed  forward,  and  surrounded 
and  slew  him.  Forthwith  arose  the  noise  and  cry  of  war,  and 
on  either  side  the  people  put  themselves  in  motion. 

"The  Normans  moved  on  to  the  assault,  and  the  English  de- 
fended themselves  well.  Some  were  striking,  others  urging  on- 
ward ;  all  were  bold,  and  cast  aside  fear.  And  now,  behold, 
that  battle  was  gathered,  whereof  the  fame  is  yet  mighty. 

"  Loud  and  far  resounded  the  bray  of  the  horns ;  and  the 
shocks  of  the  lances,  the  mighty  strokes  of  maces,  and  the  quick 
clashing  of  swords.  One  while  the  Englishmen  rushed  on,  an- 
other while  they  fell  back ;  one  while  the  men  from  over  the  sea 
charged  onward,  and  again  at  other  times  retreated.  The  Nor- 
mans shouted  '  Dex  aie  !'  the  English  people  '  Out !'  Then  came 
the  cunning  manoeuvres,  the  rude  shocks  and  strokes  of  the  lance 
and  blows  of  the  swords,  among  the  sergeants  and  soldiers,  both 
English  and  Norman. 

"  When  the  English  fall,  the  Normans  shout.  Each  side 
taunts  and  defies  the  other,  yet  neither  knoweth  what  the  other 
saith ;  and  the  Normans  say  the  English  bark,  because  they  un- 
derstand not  their  speech. 

*'Some  wax  strong,  others  weak;  the  brave  exult,  but  the 
cowards  tremble,  as  men  who  are  sore  dismayed.  The  Normans 
press  on  the  assault?  and  the  English  defend  their  post  well ; 
they  pierce  the  hauberks,  and  cleave  the  shields,  receive  and  re- 
turn mighty  blows.  Again,  some  press  forward,  others  yield ; 
and  thus  in  various  ways  the  struggle  proceeds.  In  the  plain 
was  a  fosse,  which  the  Normans  had  now  behind  them,  having 
passed  it  in  the  fight  without  regarding  it.  But  the  English 
charged,  and  drove  the  Normans  before  them  till  they  made 
them  fall  back  upon  this  fosse,  overthrowing  into  it  horses  and 
men.  Many  were  to  be  seen  falling  therein,  rolling  one  over  the 
other,  with  their  faces  to  the  earth,  and  unable  to  rise.  Many 
of  the  English,  also,  whom  the  Normans  drew  down  along  with 
them,  died  there.  At  no  time  during  the  day's  battle  did  so 
many  Normans  die  as  perished  in  that  fosse.  So  those  said 
who  saw  the  dead. 

"  The  varlets  who  were  set  to  guard  the  harness  began  to 
abandon  it  as  they  saw  the  loss  of  the  Frenchmen,  when  thrown 
back  upon  the  fosse  without  power  to  recover  themselves.  Be- 
ing greatly  alarmed  at  seeing  the  difficulty  in  restoring  order, 
they  began  to  quit  the  harness,  and  sought  around,  not  knowing 
where  to  find  shelter.  The  Duke  William's  brother,  Odo,  the 
good  priest,  the  Bishop  of  Bayeux,  galloped  up,  and  said  to 


196  BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS. 

them,  '  Stand  fast !  stand  fast !  be  quiet  and  move  not !  fear 
nothing,  for  if  God  please,  we  shall  conquer  yet.'  So  they  took 
courage,  and  rested  where  they  were ;  and  Odo  returned  gallop- 
ing back  to  where  the  battle  was  most  fierce,  and  was  of  great 
service  on  that  day.  He  had  put  a  hauberk  on,  over  a  white 
aube,  wide  in  the  body,  with  the  sleeve  tight ;  and  sat  on  a  white 
horse,  so  that  all  might  recognize  him.  In  his  hand  he  held  a 
mace,  and  wherever  he  saw  most  need  he  held  up  and  stationed 
the  knights,  and  often  urged  them  on  to  assault  and  strike  the 
enemy. 

*'  From  nine  o^clock  in  the  morning,  when  the  combat  began, 
till  three  o'clock  came,  the  battle  was  up  and  down,  this  way  and 
that,  and  no  one  knew  who  would  conquer  and  win  the  land. 
Both  sides  stood  so  firm  and  fought  so  well  that  no  one  could 
guess  which  would  prevail.  The  Norman  archers  with  their 
bows  shot  thickly  upon  the  English ;  but  they  covered  them- 
selves with  their  shields,  so  that  the  arrows  could  not  reach  their 
bodies,  nor  do  any  mischief,  how  true  soever  was  their  aim,  or 
however  well  they  shot.  Then  the  Normans  determined  to  shoot 
their  arrows  upwards  into  the  air,  so  that  they  might  fall  on  their 
enemies'  heads,  and  strike  their  faces.  The  archers  adopted  this 
scheme,  and  shot  up  into  the  air  towards  the  English ;  and  the 
arrows  in  falling  struck  their  heads  and  faces,  and  put  out  the 
eyes  of  many ;  and  all  feared  to  open  their  eyes,  or  leave  their 
faces  unguarded. 

"  The  arrows  now  flew  thicker  than  rain  before  the  wind  ;  fast 
sped  the  shafts  that  the  English  called  '  wibetes.*  Then  it  was 
that  an  arrow,  that  had  been  thus  shot  upward,  struck  Harold 
above  his  right  eye,  and  put  it  out.  In  his  agony  he  drew  the 
arrow  and  threw  it  away,  breaking  it  with  his  hands ;  and  the 
pain  to  his  head  was  so  great  that  he  leaned  upon  his  shield. 
So  the  English  were  wont  to  say,  and  still  say  to  the  French, 
that  the  arrow  was  well  shot  which  was  so  sent  up  against  their 
king ;  and  that  the  archer  won  them  great  glory,  who  thus  put 
out  Harold's  eye. 

*'The  Normans  saw  that  the  English  defended  themselves 
well,  and  were  so  strong  in  their  position  that  they  could  do  lit- 
tle against  them.  So  they  consulted  together  privily,  and  ar- 
ranged to  draw  off,  and  pretend  to  flee,  till  the  English  should 
pursue  and  scatter  themselves  over  the  field ;  for  they  saw  that 
if  they  could  once  get  their  enemies  to  break  their  ranks,  they 
might  be  attacked  and  discomfited  much  more  easily.  As  they 
had  said,  so  they  did.    The  Normans  by  little  ^ud  little  fled,  the 


BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS.  197 

English  following  them.  As  the  one  fell  back,  the  otsher  pressed 
after ;  and  when  the  Frenchmen  retreated,  the  English  thought 
and  cried  out  that  the  men  of  France  fled,  and  would  never  re- 
turn. 

"  Thus  they  were  deceived  by  the  pretended  flight,  and  great 
mischief  thereby  befell  them ;  for  if  they  had  not  moved  from 
their  position,  it  is  not  likely  that  they  would  have  been  con- 
quered at  all ;  but  like  fools  they  broke  their  lines  and  pursued. 

"The  Normans  were  to  be  seen  following  up  their  strata- 
gem, retreating  slowly  so  as  to  draw  the  English  farther  on. 
As  they  still  flee,  the  English  pursue  ;  they  push  out  their  lances 
and  stretch  forth  their  hatchets ;  following  the  Normans,  as 
they  go  rejoicing  in  the  success  of  their  scheme,  and  scatter- 
ing themselves  over  the  plain.  And  the  English  meantime 
jeered  and  insulted  their  foes  with  words.  *  Cowards,'  they 
cried,  '  you  came  hither  in  an  evil  hour,  wanting  our  lands,  and 
seeking  to  seize  our  property,  fools  that  ye  were  to  come ! 
Normandy  is  too  far  off,  and  you  will  not  easily  reach  it.  It 
is  of  little  use  to  run  back;  unless  you  can  cross  the  sea  at  a 
leap,  or  can  drink  it  dry,  your  sons  and  daughters  are  lost  to 
you.' 

"  The  Normans  bore  it  all,  but  in  fact  they  knew  not  what 
the  English  said:  their  language  seemed  like  the  baying  of 
dogs,  which  they  could  not  understand.  At  length  they  stop- 
ped and  turned  round,  determined  to  recover  their  ranks ;  and 
the  barons  might  be  heard  crying  '  Dex  aie  !'  for  a  halt.  Then 
the  Normans  resumed  their  former  position,  turning  their  faces 
towards  the  enemy ;  and  their  men  were  to  be  seen  facing 
round  and  rushing  onward  to  a  fresh  mUee;  the  one  party 
assaulting  the  other;  this  man  striking,  another  pressing  on- 
ward. One  hits,  another  misses ;  one  flies,  another  pursues ; 
one  is  aiming  a  stroke,  while  another  discharges  his  blow. 
Norman  strives  with  Englishman  again,  and  aims  his  blows 
afresh.  One  flies,  another  pursues  swiftly ;  the  combatants  are 
many,  the  plain  wide,  the  battle  and  the  mUee  fierce.  On 
every  hand  they  fight  hard,  the  blows  are  heavy,  and  the 
struggle  becomes  fierce. 

"  The  Normans  were  playing  their  part  well,  when  an  Eng- 
lish knight  came  rushing  up,  having  in  his  company  a  hundred 
men,  furnished  with  various  arms.  He  wielded  a  northern 
hatchet,  with  the  blade  a  full  foot  long;  and  was  well  armed 
after  his  manner,  being  tall,  bold,  and  of  noble  carriage.  In  the 
front  of  the  battle  where  the  Normans  thronged  most,  he  came 


198  BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS. 

bounding  <5n  swifter  than  the  stag,  many  Normans  falling  be- 
fore him  and  his  company.  He  rushed  straight  upon  a  Nor- 
man who  was  armed  and  riding  on  a  war-horse,  and  tried  with 
his  hatchet  of  steel  to  cleave  his  helmet;  but  the  blow  mis- 
carried, and  the  sharp  blade  glanced  down  before  the  saddle- 
bow, driving  through  the  horse's  neck  down  to  the  ground,  so 
that  both  horse  and  master  fell  together  to  the  earth.  I  know 
not  whether  the  Englishman  struck  another  blow  ;  but  the  Nor- 
mans who  saw  the  stroke  were  astonished,  and  about  to  aban- 
don the  assault,  when  Roger  de  Mongomeri  came  galloping  up, 
with  his  lance  set,  and  heeding  not  the  long-handled  axe,  which 
the  Englishman  wielded  aloft,  struck  him  down,  and  left  him 
stretched  upon  the  ground.  Then  Roger  cried  out,  '  French- 
men, strike !  the  day  is  ours !'  And  again  a  fierce  melee  was 
to  be  seen,  with  many  a  blow  of  lance  and  sword ;  the  English 
still  defending  themselves,  killing  the  horses  and  cleaving  the 
shields. 

"  There  was  a  French  soldier  of  noble  mien,  who  sat  his  horse 
gallantly.  He  spied  two  Englishmen  who  were. also  carrying 
themselves  boldly.  They  were  both  men  of  great  worth,  and 
had  become  companions  in  arms  and  fought  together,  the  one 
protecting  the  other.  They  bore  two  long  and  broad  bills,  and 
did  great  mischief  to  the  Normans,  killing  both  horses  and  men. 
The  French  soldier  looked  at  them  and  their  bills,  and  was 
sore  alarmed,  for  he  was  afraid  of  losing  his  good  horse,  the 
best  that  he  had ;  and  would  willingly  have  turned  to  some 
other  quarter,  if  it  would  not  have  looked  like  cowardice.  He 
soon,  however,  recovered  his  courage,  and,  spurring  his  horse 
gave  him  the  bridle,  and  galloped  swiftly  forward.  Fearing 
the  two  bills,  he  raised  his  shield,  and  struck  one  of  the  Eng- 
lishmen with  his  lance  on  the  breast,  so  that  the  iron  passed 
out  at  his  back.  At  the  moment  that  he  fell  the  lance  broke, 
and  the  Frenchmen  seized  the  mace  that  hung  at  his  right  side, 
and  struck  the  other  Englishman  a  blow  that  completely  broke 
his  skull. 

"On  the  other  side  was  an  Englishman  who  much  annoyed 
the  French,  continually  assaulting  them  with  a  keen-edged 
hatchet.  He  had  a  helmet  made  of  wood,  which  he  had  fast- 
ened down  to  his  coat,  and  laced  round  his  neck,  so  that  no 
blows  could  reach  his  head.  The  ravage  he  was  making  was 
seen  by  a  gallant  Norman  knight,  who  rode  a  horse  that  neither 
fire  nor  water  could  stop  in  its  career,  when  its  master  urged  it 
on.     The  knight  spurred,  and  his  horse  carried  him  on  well  till 


BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS.  199 

he  charged  the  Englishman,  striking  him  over  the  helmet,  so 
that  it  fell  down  over  his  eyes ;  and  as  he  stretched  out  his  hand 
to  raise  it  and  uncover  the  face,  the  Norman  cut  off  his  right 
hand,  so  that  his  hatchet  fell  to  the  ground.  Another  Nor- 
man sprang  forward  and  eagerly  seized  the  prize  with  both  his 
hands,  but  he  kept  it  little  space,  and  paid  dearly  for  it,  for  as 
he  stooped  to  pick  up  the  hatchet,  an  Englishman  with  his 
long-handled  axe  struck  him  over  the  back,  breaking  all  his 
bones,  so  that  his  entrails  and  lungs  gushed  forth.  The  knight 
of  the  good  horse  meantime  returned  without  injury ;  but  on 
his  way  he  met  another  Englishman,  and  bore  him  down  under 
his  horse,  wounding  him  grievously,  and  trampling  him  alto- 
gether under  foot. 

"  And  now  might  be  heard  the  loud  clang  and  cry  of  battle, 
and  the  clashing  of  lances.  The  English  stood  firm  in  their 
barricades,  and  shivered  the  lances,  beating  them  into  pieces 
with  their  bills  and  maces.  The  Normans  drew  their  swords, 
and  hewed  down  the  barricades,  and  the  English  in  great 
trouble  fell  back  upon  their  standard,  where  were  collected  the 
maimed  and  wounded. 

"  There  were  many  knights  of  Chauz,  who  jousted  and  made 
attacks.  The  English  knew  not  how  to  joust,  or  bear  arms  on 
horseback,  but  fought  with  hatchets  and  bills.  A  man  when 
he  wanted  to  strike  wdth  one  of  their  hatchets  was  obliged  to 
hold  it  with  both  his  hands,  and  could  not  at  the  same  time, 
as  it  seems  to  me,  both  cover  himself  and  strike  with  any 
freedom. 

"  The  English  fell  back  towards  the  standard,  which  was  upon 
a  rising  ground,  aind  the  Normans  followed  them  across  the 
valley,  attacking  them  on  foot  and  horseback.  Then  Hue  de 
Mortemer,  with  the  sires  D'Auviler,  D'Onebac,  and  St.  Cler, 
rode  up  and  charged,  overthrowing  many. 

"  Robert  Fitz  Erneis  fixed  his  lance,  took  his  shield,  and,  gal- 
loping towards  the  standard,  with  his  keen-edged  sword  struck 
an  Englishman  who  was  in  front,  killed  him,  and  then,  drawing 
back  his  sword,  attacked  many  others,  and  pushed  straight  for 
the  standard,  trying  to  beat  it  down,  but  the  English  surrounded 
it,  and  killed  him  with  their  bills.  He  was  found  on  the  spot, 
when  they  afterwards  sought  for  him,  dead,  and  lying  at  the 
standard's  foot. 

"Duke  William  pressed  close  upon  the  English  with  his 
lance;  striving  hard  to  reach  the  standard  with  the  great 
troop  he  led ;  and  seeking  earnestly  for  Harold,  on  whose  ac- 


200  BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS. 

count  the  whole  war  was.  The  Normans  follow  their  lord,  and 
press  around  him ;  they  ply  their  blows  upon  the  English  ;  and 
these  defend  themselves  stoutly,  striving  hard  with  their  en- 
emies, returning  blow  for  blow. 

"  One  of  them  was  a  man  of  great  strength,  a  wrestler,  who 
did  great  mischief  to  the  Normans  with  his  hatchet;  all  feared 
him,  for  he  struck  down  a  great  many  Normans.  The  duke 
spurred  on  his  horse,  and  aimed  a  blow  at  him,  but  he  stooped, 
and  so  escaped  the  stroke ;  then  jumping  on  one  side,  he  lifted 
his  hatchet  aloft,  and  as  the  duke  bent  to  avoid  the  blow  the 
Englishman  boldly  struck  him  on  the  head,  and  beat  in  his  hel- 
met, though  without  doing  much  injury.  He  was  very  near 
falling,  however,  but  bearing  on  his  stirrups  he  recovered  him- 
self immediately ;  and  when  he  thought  to  have  revenged  him- 
self upon  the  churl  by  killing  him,  he  had  escaped,  dreading 
the  duke's  blow.  He  ran  back  in  among  the  English,  but  he 
was  not  safe  even  there ;  for  the  Normans,  seeing  him,  pursued 
and  caught  him  ;  and,  having  pierced  him  through  and  through 
with  their  lances,  left  him  dead  on  the  ground. 

"  Where  the  throng  of  the  battle  was  greatest,  the  men  of 
Kent  and  Essex  fought  wondrously  well,  and  made  the  Nor- 
mans again  retreat,  but  without  doing  them  much  injury.  And 
when  the  duke  saw  his  men  fall  back  and  the  English  triumph- 
ing over  them,  his  spirit  rose  high,  and  he  seized  his  shield 
and  his  lance,  which  a  vassal  handed  to  him,  and  took  his  post 
by  his  standard. 

"Then  those  who  kept  close  guard  by  him  and  rode  where 
he  rode,  being  about  a  thousand  armed  men,  came  and  rushed 
with  closed  ranks  upon  the  English ;  and  with  the  weight  of 
their  good  horses,  and  the  blows  the  knights  gave,  broke  the 
press  of  the  enemy,  and  scattered  the  crowd  before  them,  the 
good  duke  leading  them  on  in  front.  Many  pursued  and  many 
fled ;  many  were  the  Englishmen  who  fell  around,  and  were 
trampled  under  the  horses,  crawling  upon  the  earth,  and  not 
able  to  rise.  Many  of  the  richest  and  noblest  men  fell  in  that 
rout,  but  the  English  still  rallied  in  places ;  smote  down  those 
whom  they  reached,  and  maintained  the  combat  the  best  they 
could;  beating  down  the  men  and  killing  the  horses.  One 
Englishman  watched  the  duke,  and  plotted  to  kill  him;  he 
would  have  struck  him  with  his  lance,  but  he  could  not,  for 
the  duke  struck  him  first,  and  felled  him  to  the  earth. 

"  Loud  was  now  the  clamor,  and  great  the  slaughter ;  many 
a  soul  then  quitted  the  body  it  inhabited.    The  living  marched 


BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS.  201 

over  the  heaps  of  dead,  and  each  side  was  weary  of  strik- 
ing. He  charged  on  who  could,  and  he  who  could  no  longer 
strike  still  pushed  forward.  The  strong  struggled  with  the 
strong;  some  failed,  others  triumphed;  the  cowards  fell  back, 
the  brave  pressed  on;  and  sad  was  his  fate  who  fell  in  the 
midst,  for  he  had  little  chance  of  rising  again  ;  and  many  in 
truth  fell,  who  never  rose  at  all,  being  crushed  under  the 
throng. 

"  And  now  the  Normans  pressed  on  so  far,  that  at  last  they 
had  reached  the  standard.  There  Harold  had  remained,  de- 
fending himself  to  the  utmost ;  but  he  was  sorely  wounded  in 
his  eye  by  the  arrow,  and  suffered  grievous  pain  from  the  blow. 
An  armed  man  came  in  the  throng  of  the  battle,  and  struck 
him  on  the  ventaille  of  his  helmet,  and  beat  him  to  the  ground ; 
and  as  he  sought  to  recover  himself,  a  knight  beat  him  down 
again,  striking  him  on  the  thick  of  his  thigh,  down  to  the  bone. 

"  Gurth  saw  the  English  falling  around,  and  that  there  was 
no  remedy.  He  saw  his  race  hastening  to  ruin,  and  despaired 
of  any  aid ;  he  would  have  fled,  but  could  not,  for  the  throng 
continually  increased.  And  the  duke  pushed  on  till  he  reached 
him,  and  struck  him  with  great  force.  Whether  he  died  of 
that  blow  I  know  not,  but  it  was  said  that  he  fell  under  it,  and 
rose  no  more. 

"  The  standard  was  beaten  down,  the  golden  standard  was 
taken,  and  Harold  and  the  best  of  his  friends  were  slain ;  but 
there  was  so  much  eagerness,  and  throng  of  so  many  around, 
seeking  to  kill  him,  that  I  know  not  who  it  was  that  slew  bim. 

"  The  English  were  in  great  trouble  at  having  lost  their  king, 
and  at  the  duke's  having  conquered  and  beat  down  the  stand- 
ard ;  but  they  still  fought  on,  and  defended  themselves  long, 
and  in  fact  till  the  day  drew  to  a  close.  Then  it  clearly  ap- 
peared to  all  that  the  standard  was  lost,  and  the  news  had 
spread  throughout  the  army  that  Harold  for  certain  was  dead ; 
and  all  saw  that  there  was  no  longer  any  hope,  so  they  left  the 
field,  and  those  fled  who  could. 

"  William  fought  well ;  many  an  assault  did  he  lead,  many  a 
blow  did  he  give,  and  many  receive,  and  many  fell  dead  under 
his  hand.  Two  horses  were  killed  under  him,  and  he  took  a 
third  at  time  of  need,  so  that  he  fell  not  to  the  ground ;  and  he 
lost  not  a  drop  of  blood.  But  whatever  any  one  did,  and  who- 
ever lived  or  died,  this  is  certain,  that  William  conquered,  and 
that  many  of  the  English  fled  from  the  field,  and  many  died  on 
the  spot.     Then  he  returned  thanks  to  God,  and  in  his  pride 


202  BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS. 

ordered  his  standard  to  be  brought  and  set  up  on  high  where 
the  English  standard  had  stood ;  and  that  was  the  signal  of  his 
having  conquered  and  beaten  down  the  foe.  And  he  ordered 
his  tent  to  be  raised  on  the  spot  among  the  dead,  and  had  his 
meat  brought  thither,  and  his  supper  prepared  there. 

"  Then  he  took  off  his  armor ;  and  the  barons  and  knights, 
pages  and  squires,  came  when  he  had  unstrung  his  shield ;  and 
they  took  the  helmet  from  his  head,  and  the  hauberk  from  his 
back,  and  saw  the  heavy  blows  upon  his  shield,  and  how  his 
helmet  was  dinted  in.  And  all  greatly  wondered,  and  said, 
'  Such  a  baron  never  bestrode  war-horse,  or  dealt  such  blows,  or 
did  such  feats  of  arms ;  neither  has  there  been  on  earth  such  a 
a  knight  since  Rollant  and  Olivier.' 

"  Thus  they  lauded  and  extolled  him  greatly,  and  rejoiced  in 
what  they  saw ;  but  grieving  also  for  their  friends  who  were 
slain  in  the  battle.  And  the  duke  stood  meanwhile  among 
them  of  noble  stature  and  mien ;  and  rendered  thanks  to  the 
King  of  Glory,  through  whom  he  had  the  victory ;  and  thanked 
the  knights  around  him,  mourning  also  frequently  for  the  dead. 
And  he  ate  and  drank  among  the  dead,  and  made  his  bed  that 
night  upon  the  field. 

"  The  morrow  was  Sunday ;  and  those  who  had  slept  upon 
the  field  of  battle,  keeping  watch  around,  and  suffering  great 
fatigue,  bestirred  themselves  at  break  of  day,  and  sought  out  and 
buried  such  of  the  bodies  of  their  dead  friends  as  they  might 
find.  The  noble  ladies  of  the  land  also  came,  some  to  seek 
their  husbands,  and  others  their  fathers,  sons,  or  brothers. 
They  bore  the  bodies  to  their  villages,  and  interred  them  at  the 
churches ;  and  the  clerks  and  priests  of  the  country  were  ready, 
and  at  the  request  of  their  friends  took  the  bodies  that  were 
found  and  prepared  graves  and  laid  them  therein. 

"King  Harold  was  carried  and  buried  at  Varham;  but  I 
know  not  who  it  was  that  bore  him  thither,  neither  do  I  know 
who  buried  him.  Many  remained  on  the  field,  and  many  had 
fled  in  the  night." 

Such  is  a  Norman  account  of  the  battle  of  Hastings,*  which 
does  full  justice  to  the  valor  of  the  Saxons,  as  well  as  to  the 

*  In  the  preceding  pages  I  have  woven  together  the  "  purpureos  pannos  " 
of  the  old  chronicler.  In  so  doing,  I  have  largely  availed  myself  of  Mr.  Edgar 
Taylor's  version  of  that  part  of  the  "  Roman  de  Rou  "  which  describes  the 
conquest.  By  giving  engravings  *  from  the  Bayeux  Tapestry,  and  by  his 
excellent  notes,  Mr.  Taylor  has  added  much  to  the  value  and  interest  of  bis 
volume. 


BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS.  203 

skill  and  bravery  of  the  victors.  It  is  indeed  evident  that  the 
loss  of  the  battle  to  the  English  was  owing  to  the  wound  which 
Harold  received  in  the  afternoon,  and  which  must  have  incapaci- 
tated him  from  effective  command.  AVhen  we  remember  that 
he  had  himself  just  won  the  battle  of  Stamford  Bridge  over 
Harald  Hardrada  by  the  manoeuvre  of  a  feigned  flight,  it  is 
impossible  to  suppose  that  he  could  be  deceived  by  the  same 
stratagem  on  the  part  of  the  Normans  at  Hastings.  But  his 
men,  when  deprived  of  his  control,  would  very  naturally  be  led 
by  their  inconsiderate  ardor  into  the  pursuit  that  proved  so  fatal 
to  them.  All  the  narratives  of  the  battle,  however  much  they 
may  vary  as  to  the  precise  time  and  manner  of  Harold's  fall, 
eulogize  the  generalship  and  the  personal  prowess  which  he  dis- 
played, until  the  fatal  arrow  struck  him.  The  skill  with  which  he 
had  posted  his  army  was  proved,  both  by  the  slaughter  which  it 
cost  the  Normans  to  force  the  position,  and  also  by  the  desper- 
ate rally  which  some  of  the  Saxons  made,  after  the  battle,  in  the 
forest  in  the  rear,  in  which  they  cut  off  a  large  number  of  the 
pursuing  Normans.  This  circumstance  is  particularly  men- 
tioned by  William  of  Poitiers,  the  Conqueror's  own  chaplain. 
Indeed,  if  Harold,  or  either  of  his  brothers,  had  survived,  the 
remains  of  the  English  army  might  have  formed  again  in  the 
wood,  and  could  at  least  have  effected  an  orderly  retreat,  and 
prolonged  the  war.  But  both  Gurth  and  Leof  wine,  and  all  the 
bravest  thanes  of  Southern  England,  lay  dead  on  Senlac,  around 
their  fallen  king  and  the  fallen  standard  of  their  country.  The 
exact  number  of  the  slain  on  the  Saxon  side  is  unknown ;  but 
we  read  that  on  the  side  of  the  victors,  out  of  sixty  thousand 
men  who  had  been  engaged,  no  less  than  a  fourth  perished  ;  so 
well  had  the  English  bill-men  "  plied  the  ghastly  blow,"  and  so 
sternly  had  the  Saxon  battle-axe  cloven  Norman  casque  and 
mail.*  The  old  historian  Daniel  justly  as  well  as  forcibly  re- 
marks, f  "  Thus  was  tried,  by  the  great  assize  of  God's  judgment 
in  battle,  the  right  of  power  between  the  English  and  Norman 
nations ;  a  battle  the  most  memorable  of  all  others,  and,  how- 
ever miserably  lost,  yet  most  nobly  fought  on  the  part  of 
England." 

Many  a  pathetic  legend  was  told  in  after-years  respecting  the 
discovery  and  the  burial  of  the  corpse  of  our  last  Saxon  king. 


*  The  Conqueror's  chaplain  calls  the  Saxon  battle-axes  "  saevissimas  se- 
cures." 
f  As  cited  in  the  "  Pictorial  History." 


^04  BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS. 

The  main  circumstances,  though  they  seem  to  vary,  are  perhaps 
reconcilable.*  Two  of  the  monks  of  Waltham  Abbey,  which 
Harold  had  founded  a  little  time  before  his  election  to  the 
throne,  had  accompanied  him  to  the  battle.  On  the  morning 
after  the  slaughter  they  begged  and  gained  permission  of  the 
Conqueror  to  search  for  the  body  of  their  benefactor.  The 
Norman  soldiery  and  camp-followers  had  stripped  and  gashed 
the  slain;  and  the  two  monks  vainly  strove  to  recognize  from 
among  the  mutilated  and  gory  heaps  around  them  the  features 
of  their  former  king.  They  sent  for  Harold's  mistress,  Edith, 
surnamed  "  the  Fair "  and  the  "  Swan-necked,"  to  aid  them. 
The  eye  of  love  proved  keener  than  the  eye  of  gratitude,  and 
the  Saxon  lady,  even  in  that  Aceldama,  knew  her  Harold. 

The  king's  mother  now  sought  the  victorious  Norman,  and 
begged  the  dead  body  of  her  son.  But  William  at  first  an- 
swered in  his  wrath,  and  in  the  hardness  of  his  heart,  that  a 
man  who  had  been  false  to  his  word  and  his  religion  should 
have  no  other  sepulchre  than  the  sand  of  the  shore.  He  added, 
with  a  sneer,  "  Harold  mounted  guard  on  the  coast  while  he  was 
alive ;  he  may  continue  his  guard  now  he  is  dead."  The  taunt 
was  an  unintentional  eulogy  ;  and  a  grave  washed  by  the  spray 
of  the  Sussex  waves  would  have  been  the  noblest  burial-place 
for  the  martyr  of  Saxon  freedom.  But  Harold's  mother  was 
urgent  in  her  lamentations  and  her  prayers ;  the  Conqueror  re- 
lented ;  like  Achilles,  he  gave  up  the  dead  body  of  his  fallen 
foe  to  a  parent's  supplications  ;  and  the  remains  of  King  Harold 
were  deposited  with  regal  honors  in  Waltham  Abbey. 

On  Christmas  Day  of  the  same  year,  William  the  Conqueror 
was  crowned  at  London  king  of  England. 

SYNOPSIS   OF   EVENTS   BETWEEN  THE   BATTLE   OF    HASTINGS, 
A.D.  1066,  AND  JOAN  OF  ARC'S  VICTORY  AT  ORLEANS,  1429. 

A.D.  1066  to  1087.  Reign  of  William  the  Conqueror.  Fre- 
quent risings  of  the  English  against  him,  which  are  quelled 
with  merciless  rigor. 

1096.  The  first  Crusade. 

1112.  Commencement  of  the  disputes  about  investitures  be- 
tween the  emperors  and  the  popes. 

*  See  them  collected  in  Lingard,  vol.  i.,  p.  452  et  seq. ;  Thierry,  vol.  i.,  p. 
299;  Sharon  Turner,  vol.  i.,  p.  82;  and  "Histoire  de  Normandie"  par 
Lieguet,  p.  242. 


BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS.  205 

1140.  Foundation  of  the  city  of  Ltibeck,  whence  originated 
the  Hanseatic  League.  Commencement  of  the  feuds  in  Italy 
between  the  Guelphs  and  Ghibellines. 

1146.  The  second  Crusade. 

1154.  Henry  II.  becomes  king  of  England.  Under  him 
Thomas  a  Becket  is  made  Archbishop  of  Canterbury :  the  first 
instance  of  any  man  of  the  Saxon  race  being  raised  to  high 
office  in  Church  or  State  since  the  Conquest. 

11 70.  Strongbow,  Earl  of  Pembroke,  lands  with  an  English 
army  in  Ireland. 

1189.  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion  becomes  king  of  England.  He 
and  King  Philip  Augustus  of  France  join  in  the  third  Crusade. 

1199  to  1204.  On  the  death  of  King  Richard,  his  brother 
John  claims  and  makes  himself  master  of  England  and  Nor- 
mandy and  the  other  large  Continental  possessions  of  the  early 
Plantagenet  princes.  Philip  Augustus  asserts  the  cause  of 
Prince  Arthur,  John's  nephew,  against  him.  Arthur  is  mur- 
dered, but  the  French  king  continues  the  war  against  John,  and 
conquers  from  him  Normandy,  Brittany,  Anjou,  Maine,  Touraine, 
and  Poitiers. 

1215.  The  barons,  the  freeholders,  the  citizens,  and  the  yeo- 
men of  England  rise  against  the  tyranny  of  John  and  his 
foreign  favorites.  They  compel  him  to  sign  Magna  Charta. 
This  is  the  commencement  of  our  nationality ;  for  our  history 
from  this  time  forth  is  the  history  of  a  national  life,  then  com- 
plete, and  still  in  being.  All  English  history  before  this  period 
is  a  mere  history  of  elements,  of  their  collisions,  and  of  the 
processes  of  their  fusion.  For  upward  of  a  century  after  the 
Conquest,  Anglo-Norman  and  Anglo-Saxon  had  kept  aloof  from 
each  other :  the  one  in  haughty  scorn,  the  other  in  sullen  ab- 
horrence. They  were  two  peoples,  though  living  in  the  same 
land.  It  is  not  until  the  thirteenth  century,  the  period  of  the 
reigns  of  John  and  his  son  and  grandson,  that  we  can  perceive 
the  existence  of  any  feeling  of  common  patriotism  amon^  them. 
But  in  studying  the  history  of  these  reigns,  we  read  of  the  old 
dissensions  no  longer.  The  Saxon  no  more  appears  in  civil 
war  against  the  Norman ;  the  Norman  no  longer  scorns  the 
language  of  the  Saxon,  or  refuses  to  bear  together  with  him 
the  name  of  Englishman.  No  part  of  the  community  think 
themselves  foreigners  to  another  part.  They  feel  that  they  are 
all  one  people,  and  they  have  learned  to  unite  their  efforts  for 
the  common  purpose  of  protecting  the  rights  and  promoting 
the  welfare  of  all.     The  fortunate  loss  of  the  Diichy  of  Nor- 


206  BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS. 

mandy  in  John's  reign  greatly  promoted  these  new  feelings. 
Thenceforth  our  barons'  only  homes  were  in  England.  One  lan- 
guage had,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  III.,  become  the  language  of  the 
land ;  and  that,  also,  had  then  assumed  the  form  in  which  we 
still  possess  it.  One  law,  in  the  eye  of  which  all  freemen  are 
equal  without  distinction  of  race,  was  modelled,  and  steadily 
enforced,  and  still  continues  to  form  the  groundwork  of  our 
judicial  system.* 

1273.  Rudolph  of  Hapsburg  chosen  Emperor  of  Germany. 

1283.  Edward  I.  conquers  Wales. 

1346.  Edward  III.  invades  France,  and  gains  the  battle  of 
Cressy. 

1356.  Battle  of  Poitiers. 

1360.  Treaty  of  Bretigny  between  England  and  France.  By 
it  Edward  III.  renounces  his  pretensions  to  the  French  crown. 
The  treaty  is  ill  kept,  and  indecisive  hostilities  continue  between 
the  forces  of  the  two  countries. 

1414.  Henry  V.  of  England  claims  the  crown  of  France,  and 
resolves  to  invade  and  conquer  that  kingdom.  At  this  time 
France  was  in  the  most  deplorable  state  of  weakness  and  suffer- 
ing, from  the  factions  that  raged  among  her  nobility,  and  from 
the  cruel  oppressions  which  the  rival  nobles  practised  on  the 
mass  of  the  community.  "  The  people  were  exhausted  by  taxes, 
cival  wars,  and  military  executions ;  and  they  had  fallen  into 
that  worst  of  all  states  of  mind,  when  the  independence  of  one's 
country  is  thought  no  longer  a  paramount  and  sacred  object. 
*  What  can  the  English  do  to  lis  worse  than  the  things  we  suffer 
at  the  hands  of  our  own  princes?'  was  a  common  exclamation 
among  the  poor  people  of  France. "f 

1415.  Henry  invades  France,  takes  Harfleur,  and  wins  the 
great  battle  of  Agincourt. 

1417  to  1419.  Henry  conquers  Normandy.  The  French  dau- 
phin assassinates  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  the  most  powerful  of 
the  French  nobles,  at  Montereau.  The  successor  of  the  mur- 
dered duke  becomes  the  active  ally  of  the  English. 

1420.  The  Treaty  of  Troyes  is  concluded  between  Henry  V. 
of  England  and  Charles  VI.  of  France,  and  Philip,  Duke  of  Bur- 
gundy. By  this  treaty  it  was  stipulated  that  Henry  should  mar- 
ry the  Princess  Catherine  of  France ;  that  King  Charles,  during 
his  lifetime,  should  keep  the  title  and  dignity  of  King  of  France, 
but  that  Henry  should  succeed  him,  and  should  at  once  be  in- 

*  Creasy's  "  Text-book  of  the  Constitution,"  p.  4. 
f  "Pictorial  Hist,  of  England,"  vol.  i.,  p.  28. 


BATTLE   OF  HASTINGS.  20V 

trusted  with  the  administration  of  the  government,  and  that  the 
French  crown  should  descend  to  Henry's  heirs ;  that  France  and 
England  should  forever  be  united  under  one  king,  but  should 
still  retain  their  several  usages,  customs,  and  privileges ;  that  all 
the  princes,  peers,  vassals,  and  communities  of  France  should 
swear  allegiance  to  Henry  as  their  future  king,  and  should  pay 
him  present  obedience  as  regent ;  that  Henry  should  unite  his 
arms  to  those  of  King  Charles  and  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  in 
order  to  subdue  the  adherents  of  Charles,  the  pretended  dau- 
phin ;  and  that  these  three  princes  should  make  no  truce 
or  peace  with  the  dauphin  but  by  the  common  consent  of  all 
three. 

1421.  Henry  Y.  gains  several  victories  over  the  French,  who 
refuse  to  acknowledge  the  treaty  of  Troyes.  His  son,  after- 
wards Henry  VL,  is  born. 

1422.  Henry  V.  and  Charles  VI.  of  France  die.  Henry  VI. 
is  proclaimed  at  Paris,  King  of  England  and  France.  The  fol- 
lowers of  the  French  dauphin  proclaim  him  Charles  VII.,  King 
of  France.  The  Duke  of  Bedford,  the  English  regent  in  France, 
defeats  the  army  of  the  dauphin  at  Crevant. 

1424.  The  Duke  of  Bedford  gains  the  great  victory  of  Ver- 
neuil,  over  the  French  partisans  of  the  dauphin  and  their  Scotch 
auxiliaries. 

1428.  The  English  begin  the  siege  of  Orleans. 


208  JOAN  OF  ARC'S  VICTORY 


CHAPTER  IX. 

JOAN  OF  arc's  victory  OVER  THE  ENGLISH  AT  ORLEANS,  A.D.  1429. 

"  The  eyes  of  all  Europe  were  turned  towards  this  scene ;  where,  it  was 
reasonably  supposed,  the  French  were  to  make  their  last  stand  for  maintain- 
ing the  independence  of  their  monarchy  and  the  rights  of  their  sovereign." — 
Hume. 

When,  after  their  victory  at  Salamis,  the  generals  of  the  vari- 
ous Greek  states  voted  the  prizes  for  distinguished  individual 
merit,  each  assigned  the  first  place  of  excellence  to  himself,  but 
they  all  concurred  in  giving  their  second  votes  to  Themistocles.* 
This  was  looked  on  as  a  decisive  proof  that  Themistocles  ought 
to  be  ranked  first  of  all.  If  we  were  to  endeavor,  by  a  similar 
test,  to  ascertain  which  European  nation  has  contributed  the 
most  to  the  progress  of  European  civilization,  we  should  find 
Italy,  Germany,  England,  and  Spain  each  claiming  the  first  de- 
gree, but  each  also  naming  France  as  clearly  next  in  merit.  It 
is  impossible  to  deny  her  paramount  importance  in  history. 
Besides  the  formidable  part  that  she  has  for  nearly  three  cen- 
turies played,  as  the  Bellona  of  the  European  commonwealth  of 
states,  her  influence  during  all  this  period  over  the  arts,  the 
literature,  the  manners,  and  the  feelings  of  mankind,  has  been 
such  as  to  make  the  crisis  of  her  earlier  fortunes  a  point  of 
world-wide  interest;  and  it  may  be  asserted  without  exaggera- 
tion that  the  future  career  of  every  nation  was  involved  in  the 
result  of  the  struggle  by  which  the  unconscious  heix)ine  of 
France,  in  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century,  rescued  her 
country  from  becoming  a  second  Ireland  under  the  yoke  of  the 
triumphant  English. 

Seldom  has  the  extinction  of  a  nation's  independence  appeared 
more  inevitable  than  was  the  case  in  France,  when  the  English 
invaders  completed  their  lines  round  Orleans,  four  hundred  and 
twenty-three   years   ago.     A   series   of   dreadful   defeats    had 

♦Plutarch,  "Vit  Them."  17. 


AT  ORLJiANS.  209 

thinned  the  chivalry  of  France,  and  daunted  the  spirits  of  her 
soldiers.  A  foreign  king  had  been  proclaimed  in  her  capital ; 
and  foreign  armies  of  the  bravest  veterans,  and  led  by  the  ablest 
captains  then  known  in  the  world,  occupied  the  fairest  portions 
of  her  territory.  Worse  to  her  even  than  the  fierceness  and  the 
strength  of  her  foes  were  the  factions,  the  vices,  and  the  crimes 
of  her  own  children.  Her  native  prince  was  a  dissolute  trifler, 
stained  with  the  assassination  of  the  most  powerful  noble  of 
the  land,  whose  son,  in  revenge,  had  leagued  himself  with  the 
enemy.  Many  more  of  her  nobility,  many  of  her  prelates,  her 
magistrates,  and  rulers,  had  sworn  fealty  to  the  English  king. 
The  condition  of  the  peasantry  amid  the  general  prevalence  of 
anarchy  and  brigandage,  which  were  added  to  the  customary 
devastations  of  contending  armies,  was  wretched  beyond  the 
power  of  language  to  describe.  The  sense  of  terror  and  suffer- 
ing seemed  to  have  extended  itself  even  to  the  brute  creation. 

"  In  sooth,  the  estate  of  France  was  then  most  miserable. 
There  appeared  nothing  but  a  horrible  face,  confusion,  poverty, 
desolation,  solitarinesse,  and  feare.  The  lean  and  bare  labourers 
in  the  country  did  terrific  even  theeves  themselves,  who  had 
nothing  left  them  to  spoile  but  the  carkasses  of  these  poore  mis- 
erable creatures,  wandering  up  and  down  like  ghosts  drawne  out 
of  their  graves.  The  least  farmes  and  hamlets  were  fortified  by 
these  robbers,  English,  Bourguegnons,  and  French,  every  one 
striving  to  do  his  worst;  all  men-of-war  were  well  agreed  to 
spoile  the  countryman  and  merchant.  Even  the  cattell,  accus- 
tomed to  the  larume  bell,  the  signe  of  the  enemy^s  approach,  would 
run  home  of  themselves  without  any  guide,  by  this  accustomed 
misery.''"'  * 

In  the  autumn  of  1428,  the  English,  who  were  already  mas- 
ters of  all  France  north  of  the  Loire,  prepared  their  forces  for 
the  conquest  of  the  southern  provinces,  which  yet  adhered  to 
the  cause  of  the  dauphin.  The  city  of  Orleans,  on  the  banks 
of  that  river,  was  looked  upon  as  the  last  stronghold  of  the 
French  national  party.  If  the  English  could  once  obtain  pos- 
session of  it,  their  victorious  progress  through  the  residue  of 
the  kingdom  seemed  free  from  any  serious  obstacle.  Accord- 
ingly, the  Earl  of  Salisbury,  one  of  the  bravest  and  most  ex- 
perienced of  the  English  generals,  who  had  been  trained  under 
Henry  V.,  marched  to  the  attack  of  the  all-important  city;  and, 
after  reducing  several  places  of   inferior  consequence   in  the 

*  De  Serres,  quoted  in  the  notes  to  Southey's  "  Joan  of  Arc." 


210  JOAN  OF  ARCS   VICTORY 

neighborhood,  appeared  with  his  army  before  its  walls  on  the 
12th  of  October,  1428. 

The  city  of  Orleans  itself  was  on  the  north  side  of  the  Loire, 
but  its  suburbs  extended  far  on  the  southern  side,  and  a  strong 
bridge  connected  them  with  the  town.  A  fortification,  which  in 
modern  military  phrase  would  be  termed  a  tete-du-pont,  defend- 
ed the  bridge-head  on  the  southern  side,  and  two  towers,  called 
the  Tourelles,  were  built  on  the  bridge  itself,  where  it  rested  on 
an  island  at  a  little  distance  from  the  tete-du-pont.  Indeed,  the 
solid  masonry  of  the  bridge  terminated  at  the  Tourelles,  and 
the  communication  thence  with  the  tete-du-pont  on  the  southern 
shore  was  by  means  of  a  drawbridge.  The  Tourelles  and  the 
tete-du-pont  formed  together  a  strong  fortified  post,  capable  of 
containing  a  garrison  of  considerable  strength :  and  so  long  as 
this  was  in  possession  of  the  Orleannais,  they  could  communi- 
cate freely  with  the  southern  provinces,  the  inhabitants  of  which, 
like  the  Orleannais  themselves,  supported  the  cause  of  their 
dauphin  against  the  foreigners.  Lord  Salisbury  rightly  judged 
the  capture  of  the  Tourelles  to  be  the  most  material  step  tow- 
ards the  reduction  of  the  city  itself.  Accordingly  he  directed 
his  principal  operations  against  this  post,,  and,  after  some  very 
severe  repulses,  he  carried  the  Tourelles  by  storm,  on  the  23d  of 
October.  The  French,  however,  broke  down  the  part  of  the 
bridge  which  was  nearest  to  the  north  bank,  and  thus  rendered 
a  direct  assault  from  the  Tourelles  upon  the  city  impossible. 
But  the  possession  of  this  post  enabled  the  English  to  distress 
the  town  greatly  by  a  battery  of  cannon  which  they  planted 
there,  and  which  commanded  some  of  the  principal  streets. 

It  has  been  observed  by  Hume  that  this  is  the  first  siege  in 
which  any  important  use  appears  to  have  been  made  of  artillery. 
And  even  at  Orleans  both  besiegers  and  besieged  seem  to  have 
employed  their  cannons  more  as  instruments  of  destruction 
against  their  enemy's  men,  than  as  engines  of  demolition  against 
their  enemy's  walls  and  works.  The  efficacy  of  cannon  in 
breaching  solid  masonry  was  taught  Europe  by  the  Turks,  a 
few  years  afterwards,  at  the  memorable  siege  of  Constantinople. 
In  our  French  wars,  as  in  the  wars  of  the  classic  nations,  famine 
was  looked  on  as  the  surest  weapon  to  compel  the  submission  of 
a  well-walled  town  ;  and  the  great  object  of  the  besiegers  was 
to  effect  a  complete  circumvallation.  The  great  ambit  of  the 
walls  of  Orleans,  and  the  facilities  which  the  river  gave  for  ob- 
taining succor  and  supplies,  rendered  the  capture  of  the  place 
by  this  process  a  matter  of  great  difficulty.     Nevertheless,  Lord 


AT  ORLEANS. 


211 


Salisbury,  and  Lord  Suffolk,  who  succeeded  him  in  command  of 
the  English  after  his  death  by  a  cannon-ball,  carried  on  the 
necessary  works  with  great  skill  and  resolution.  Six  strongly 
fortified  posts,  called  bastilles,  were  formed  at  certain  intervals 
round  the  town  ;  and  the  purpose  of  the  English  engineers  was 
to  draw  strong  lines  between  them.  During  the  winter  little 
progress  was  made  with  the  entrenchments,  but  when  the  spring 
of  1429  came,  the  English  resumed  their  works  with  activity; 
the  communications  between  the  city  and  the  country  became 
more  difficult,  and  the  approach  of  want  began  already  to  be 
felt  in  Orleans. 


ORLEANS.* 


The  besieging  force  also  fared  hardly  for  stores  and  provi- 
sions, until  relieved  by  the  effects  of  a  brilliant  victory  which  Sir 
John  Fastolfe,  one  of  the  best  English  generals,  gained  at  Rou- 
vrai,  near  Orleans,  a  few  days  after  Ash  Wednesday,  1429. 
With  only  sixteen  hundred  fighting  men.  Sir  John  completely 
defeated  an  army  of  French  and  Scots,  four  thousand  strong, 
which  had  been  collected  for  the  purpose  of  aiding  the  Orlean- 
nais  and  harassing  the  besiegers.  After  this  encounter,  which 
seemed  decisively  to  confirm  the  superiority  of  the  English  in 
battle  over  their  adversaries,  Fastolfe  escorted  large  supplies  of 
stores  and  food  to  Suffolk's  camp,  and  the  spirits  of  the  English 
rose  to  the  highest  pitch  at  the  prospect  of  the  speedy  capture 

*  This  is  taken  from  an  old  plan  of  Orleans  when  besieged  by  the  Duke  of 
Guise  in  the  Huguenot  wars.  The  state  of  the  Tourelles  and  bridge  is  not 
identical  with  what  it  was  in  Joan  of  Arc's  time,  but  it  may  give  a  general 
idea  of  it. 


212  JOAN  OF  ARC'S   VICTORY 

of  the  city  before  them,  and  the  consequent  subjection  of  all 
France  beneath  their  arras. 

The  Orleannais  now  in  their  distress  offered  to  surrender  the 
city  into  the  hands  of  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  who,  though  the 
ally  of  the  English,  was  yet  one  of  their  native  princes.  The 
Regent  Bedford  refused  these  terms,  and  the  speedy  submission 
of  the  city  to  the  English  seemed  inevitable.  The  Dauphin 
Charles,  who  was  now  at  Chinon  with  his  remnant  of  a  court, 
despaired  of  maintaining  any  longer  the  struggle  for  his  crown  ; 
and  was  only  prevented  from  abandoning  the  country  by  the 
more  masculine  spirits  of  his  mistress  and  his  queen.  Yet 
neither  they,  nor  the  boldest  of  Charles's  captains,  could  have 
shown  him  where  to  find  resources  for  prolonging  the  war ;  and 
least  of  all  could  any  human  skill  have  predicted  the  quarter 
whence  rescue  was  to  come  to  Orleans  and  to  France. 

In  the  village  of  Domremy,  on  the  borders  of  Lorraine,  there 
was  a  poor  peasant  of  the  name  of  Jacques  d'Arc,  respected  in 
his  station  of  life,  and  who  had  reared  a  family  in  virtuous 
habits  and  in  the  practice  of  the  strictest  devotion.  His  eldest 
daughter  was  named  by  her  parents  Jeannette,  but  she  was 
called  Jeanne  by  the  French,  which  was  Latinized  into  Johanna, 
and  Anglicized  into  Joan.* 

At  the  time  when  Joan  first  attracted  attention  she  was  about 
eighteen  years  of  age.  She  was  naturally  of  a  susceptible  dis- 
position, which  diligent  attention  to  the  legends  of  saints  and 
tales  of  fairies,  aided  by  the  dreamy  loneliness  of  her  life  while 
tending  her  father's  flocks,f  had  made  peculiarly  prone  to  en- 

♦  '*  Respondit  quod  in  partibus  suis  vocabatur  Johanneta,  et  postquam 
venit  in  Franciam  vocata  est  Johanna." — Proces  de  Jeanne  d'ArCy  vol.  i.,  p. 
46. 

f  Southey,  in  one  of  the  speeches  which  he  puts  in  the  mouth  of  his  Joan 
of  Arc,  has  made  her  beautifully  describe  the  effect  on  her  mind  of  the 
scenery  in  which  she  dwelt: 

"  Here  in  solitude  and  peace 
My  soul  was  nurst,  amid  the  loveliest  scenes 
Of  unpolluted  nature.    Sweet  it  was, 
As  the  white  mists  of  morning  rolled  away, 
To  see  the  mountain's  wooded  heights  appear 
Dark  in  the  early  dawn,  and  mark  its  slope 
With  gorse-flowers  glowing,  as  the  rising  sun 
On  the  golden  ripeness  poured  a  deepening  light. 
Pleasant  at  noon  beside  the  vocal  brook 
To  lay  me  down,  and  watch  the  floating  clouds, 
A.nd  shape  to  Fancy's  wild  similitudes 


AT  ORLEANS.  213 

thusiastic  fervor.  At  the  same  time  she  was  eminent  for  piety 
and  purity  of  soul,  and  for  her  compassionate  gentleness  to  the 
sick  and  the  distressed. 

The  district  where  she  dwelt  had  escaped  comparatively  free 
from  the  ravages  of  war,  but  the  approach  of  roving  bands  of 
Burgundian  or  English  troops  frequently  spread  terror  through 
Domremy.  Once  the  village  had  been  plundered  by  some  of 
these  marauders,  and  Joan  and  her  family  had  been  driven  from 
their  home,  and  forced  to  seek  refuge  for  a  time  at  Neufchateau. 
The  peasantry  in  Domremy  were  principally  attached  to  the 
House  of  Orleans  and  the  dauphin ;  and  all  the  miseries  which 
France  endured  were  there  imputed  to  the  Burgundian  faction 
and  their  allies,  the  English,  who  were  seeking  to  enslave  un- 
happy France. 

Thus  from  infancy  to  girlhood  Joan  had  heard  continually  pf 
the  woes  of  the  war,  and  she  had  herself  witnessed  some  of  the 
wretchedness  that  it  caused.  A  feeling  of  intense  patriotism 
grew  in  her  with  her  growth.  The  deliverance  of  France  from 
the  English  was  the  subject  of  her  reveries  by  day  and  her 
dreams  by  night.  Blended  with  these  aspirations  were  recol- 
lections of  the  miraculous  interpositions  of  Heaven  in  favor  of 
the  oppressed,  which  she  had  learned  from  the  legends  of  her 
church.  Her  faith  was  undoubting ;  her  prayers  were  fervent. 
"  She  feared  no  danger,  for  she  felt  no  sin ;"  and  at  length  she 
believed  herself  to  have  received  the  supernatural  inspiration 
which  she  sought. 

According  to  her  own  narrative,  delivered  by  her  to  her  mer- 
ciless inquisitors  in  the  time  of  her  captivity  and  approaching 
death,  she  was  about  thirteen  years  old  when  her  revelations 
commenced.  Her  own  words  describe  them  best :  *  "At  the 
age  of  thirteen,  a  voice  from  God  came  near  to  her  to  help  her 
in  ruling  herself,  and  that  voice  came  to  her  about  the  hour  of 


Their  ever- varying  forms ;  and  oh,  how  sweet, 
To  drive  my  flock  at  evening  to  the  fold, 
And  hasten  to  our  little  hut,  and  hear 
The  voice  of  kindness  bid  me  welcome  home !" 

The  only  foundation  for  the  story  told  by  the  Burgundian  partisan  Mon- 
strelet,  and  adopted  by  Hume,  of  Joan  having  been  brought  up  as  servant  at 
an  inn,  is  the  circumstance  of  her  having  been  once,  with  tlie  rest  of  her 
family,  obliged  to  take  refuge  in  an  auberge  in  Neufchateau  for  fifteen  days, 
when  a  party  of  Burgundian  cavalry  made  an  incursion  into  Domremy.  (See 
the  Quarterly  Review^  No.  138.) 

♦"Proems  de  Jeanne  d'Arc,"  vol.  i.,p.  52. 


214  JOAN  OF  ARCS  VICTORY 

noon,  in  summer  time,  while  she  was  in  her  father's  garden. 
And  she  had  fasted  the  day  before.  And  she  heard  the 
voice  on  her  right,  in  the  direction  of  the  church  ;  and  when  she 
heard  the  voice  she  also  saw  a  bright  light.  Afterwards,  St. 
Michael  and  St.  Margaret  and  St.  Catherine  appeared  to  her. 
They  were  always  in  a  halo  of  glory ;  she  could  see  that  their 
heads  were  crowned  with  jewels ;  and  she  heard  their  voices, 
which  were  sweet  and  mild.  She  did  not  distinguish  their  arms 
or  limbs.  She  heard  them  more  frequently  than  she  saw  them  ; 
and  the  usual  time  when  she  heard  them  was  when  the  church 
bells  were  sounding  for  prayer.  And  if  she  was  in  the  woods 
when  she  heard  them,  she  could  plainly  distinguish  their  voices 
drawing  near  to  her.  When  she  thought  that  she  discerned 
the  heavenly  voices,  she  knelt  down,  and  bowed  herself  to  the 
gW)und.  Their  presence  gladdened  her  even  to  tears ;  and  after 
they  departed  she  wept  because  they  had  not  taken  her  with 
them  back  to  Paradise.  They  always  spoke  soothingly  to  her. 
They  told  her  that  France  would  be  saved,  and  that  she  was  to 
save  it."  Such  were  the  visions  and  the  voices  that  moved  the 
spirit  of  the  girl  of  thirteen  ;  and  as  she  grew  older  they  became 
more  frequent  and  more  clear.  At  last  the  tidings  of  the  siege 
of  Orleans  reached  Domremy.  Joan  heard  her  parents  and 
neighbors  talk  of  the  sufferings  of  its  population,  of  the  ruin 
which  its  capture  would  bring  on  their  lawful  sovereign,  and  of 
the  distress  of  the  dauphin  and  his  court.  Joan's  heart  was 
sorely  troubled  at  the  thought  of  the  fate  of  Orleans ;  and  her 
voices  now  ordered  her  to  leave  her  home  ;  and  warned  her  that 
she  was  the  instrument  chosen  by  Heaven  for  driving  away  the 
English  from  that  city,  and  for  taking  the  dauphin  to  be 
anointed  king  at  Rheims.  At  length  she  informed  her  parents 
of  her  divine  mission,  and  told  them  that  she  must  go  to  the 
Sire  de  Baudricourt,  who  commanded  at  Yaucouleurs,  and  who 
was  the  appointed  person  to  bring  her  into  the  presence  of  the 
king,  whom  she  was  to  save.  Neither  the  anger  nor  the  grief 
of  her  parents,  who  said  that  they  would  rather  see  her  drowned 
than  exposed  to  the  contamination  of  the  camp,  could  move  her 
from  her  purpose.  One  of  her  uncles  consented  to  take  her  to 
Vaucouleurs,  where  De  Baudricourt  at  first  thought  her  mad, 
and  derided  her ;  but  by  degrees  was  led  to  believe,  if  not  in  her 
inspiration,  at  least  in  her  enthusiasm  and  in  its  possible  utility 
to  the  dauphin's  cause. 

The  inhabitants  of  Vaucouleurs  were  completely  won  over  to 
her  side,  by  the  piety  and  devoutness  which  she  displayed,  and 


AT  ORLEANS.  216 

by  her  firm  assurance  in  the  truth  of  her  mission.  She  told 
them  that  it  was  God's  will  that  she  should  go  to  the  king,  and 
that  no  one  but  her  could  save  the  kingdom  of  France.  She 
said  that  she  herself  would  rather  remain  with  her  poor  mother 
and  spin ;  but  the  Lord  had  ordered  her  forth.  The  fame  of 
"  The  Maid,"  as  she  was  termed,  the  renown  of  her  holiness 
and  of  her  mission,  spread  far  and  wide.  Baudricourt  sent  her 
with  an  escort  to  Chinon,  where  the  Dauphin  Charles  was  dally- 
ing away  his  time.  Her  voices  had  bidden  her  assume  the 
arms  and  the  apparel  of  a  knight ;  and  the  wealthiest  inhabit- 
ants of  Vaucouleurs  had  vied  with  each  other  in  equipping  her 
with  war-horse,  armor,  and  sword.  On  reaching  Chinon,  she 
was,  after  some  delay,  admitted  into  the  presence  of  the  dau- 
phin. Charles  designedly  dressed  himself  far  less  richly  than 
many  of  his  courtiers  were  apparelled,  and  mingled  with  them, 
when  Joan  was  introduced,  in  order  to  see  if  the  Holy  Maid 
would  address  her  exhortations  to  the  wrong  person.  But  she 
instantly  singled  him  out,  and,  kneeling  before  him,  said,  "  Most 
noble  dauphin,  the  King  of  Heaven  announces  to  you  by  me 
that  you  shall  be  anointed  and  crowned  king  in  the  city  of 
Rheims,  and  that  you  shall  be  his  vicegerent  in  France."  His 
features  may  probably  have  been  seen  by  her  previously  in  por- 
traits, or  have  been  described  to  her  by  others ;  but  she  herself 
believed  that  her  voices  inspired  her  when  she  addressed  the 
king  ;*  and  the  report  soon  spread  abroad  that  the  Holy  Maid 
had  found  the  king  by  a  miracle;  and  this,  with  many  other 
similar  rumors,  augmented  the  renown  and  influence  that  she 
now  rapidly  acquired. 

The  state  of  public  feeling  in  France  was  now  favorable  to 
an  enthusiastic  belief  in  divine  interposition  in  favor  of  the 
party  that  had  hitherto  been  unsuccessful  and  oppressed.  The 
humiliations  which  had  befallen  the  French  royal  family  and 
nobility  were  looked  on  as  the  just  judgments  of  God  upon 
them  for  their  vice  and  impiety.  The  misfortunes  that  had 
come  upon  France  as  a  nation  were  believed  to  have  been 
drawn  down  by  national  sins.  The  English,  who  had  been  the 
instruments  of  Heaven's  wrath  against  France,  seemed  now  by 
their  pride  and  cruelty  to  be  fitting  objects  of  it  themselves. 
France  in  that  age  was  a  profoundly  religious  country.  There 
was  ignorance,  there  was  superstition,  there  was  bigotry ;  but 
there  was  faith — a  faith  that  itself  worked  true  miracles,  even 

*  "  Proems  de  Jeanne  d'Arc,"  vol.  i.,  p.  56, 


216  JOAN  OF  ARC'S  VICTORY 

while  it  believed  in  unreal  ones.  At  this  time,  also,  one  of 
those  devotional  movements  began  among  the  clergy  in  France 
which  from  time  to  time  occur  in  national  churches  without  it 
being  possible  for  the  historian  to  assign  any  adequate  human 
cause  for  their  immediate  date  or  extension.  Numberless  friars 
and  priests  traversed  the  rural  districts  and  towns  of  France, 
preaching  to  the  people  that  they  must  seek  from  Heaven  a  de- 
liverance from  the  pillages  of  the  soldiery  and  the  insolence  of 
the  foreign  oppressors.*  The  idea  of  a  Providence  that  works 
only  by  general  laws  was  wholly  alien  to  the  feelings  of  the 
age.  Every  political  event,  as  well  as  every  natural  phenom- 
enon, was  believed  to  be  the  immediate  result  of  a  special  man- 
date of  God.  This  led  to  the  belief  that  his  holy  angels  and 
saints  were  constantly  employed  in  executing  his  commands 
and  mingling  in  the  affairs  of  men.  The  church  encouraged 
these  feelings ;  and  at  the  same  time  sanctioned  the  concurrent 
popular  belief  that  hosts  of  evil  spirits  were  also  ever  actively 
interposing  in  the  current  of  earthly  events,  with  whom  sorcer- 
ers and  wizards  could  league  themselves,  and  thereby  obtain  the 
exercise  of  supernatural  power. 

Thus  all  things  favored  the  influence  which  Joan  obtained 
both  over  friends  and  foes.  The  French  nation,  as  well  as  the 
English  and  the  Burgundians,  readily  admitted  that  superhu- 
man beings  inspired  her  :  the  only  question  was,  whether  these 
beings  were  good  or  evil  angels ;  whether  she  brought  with  her 
"  airs  from  heaven,  or  blasts  from  hell."  This  question  seemed 
to  her  countrymen  to  be  decisively  settled  in  her  favor  by  the 
austere  sanctity  of  her  life,  by  the  holiness  of  her  conversation, 
but,  still  more,  by  her  exemplary  attention  to  all  the  services 
and  rites  of  the  church.  The  dauphin  at  first  feared  the  in- 
jury that  might  be  done  to  his  cause  if  he  had  laid  himself 
open  to  the  charge  of  having  leagued  himself  with  a  sorceress. 
Every  imaginable  test,  therefore,  was  resorted  to  in  order  to  set 
Joan's  orthodoxy  and  purity  beyond  suspicion.  At  last  Charles 
and  his  advisers  felt  safe  in  accepting  her  services  as  those  of  a 
true  and  virtuous  daughter  of  the  Holy  Church. 

It  is  indeed  probable  that  Charles  himself,  and  some  of  his 
counsellors,  may  have  suspected  Joan  of  being  a  mere  enthusi- 
ast ;  and  it  is  certain  that  Dunois,  and  others  of  the  best  gen- 
erals, took  considerable  latitude  in  obeying  or  deviating  from 
the  military  orders  that  she  gave.     But  over  the  mass  of  the 

•  See  Sismondi,  vol.  xiii.,  p.  114  ;  Michelet,  vol.  v.,  livre  x. 


AT  ORLEANS.  217 

people  and  the  soldiery,  her  influence  was  unbounded.  While 
Charles  ^nd  his  doctors  of  theology,  and  court  ladies,  had  been 
deliberating  as  to  recognizing  or  dismissing  the  Maid,  a  consid- 
erable period  had  passed  away,  during  which  a  small  army,  the 
last  gleanings,  as  it  seemed,  of  the  English  sword,  had  been  as- 
sembled at  Blois,  under  Dunois,  La  Hire,  Xaintrailles,  and  other 
chiefs,  who  to  their  natural  valor  were  now  beginning  to  unite 
the  wisdom  that  is  taught  by  misfortune.  It  was  resolved  to 
send  Joan  with  this  force  and  a  convoy  of  provisions  to  Orleans. 
The  distress  of  that  city  had  now  become  urgent.  But  the 
communication  with  the  open  country  was  not  entirely  cut  off ; 
the  Orleannais  had  heard  of  the  Holy  Maid  whom  Providence 
had  raised  up  for  their  deliverance,  and  their  messengers  ur- 
gently implored  the  dauphin  to  send  her  to  them  without  delay. 

Joan  appeared  at  the  camp  at  Blois,  clad  in  a  new  suit  of 
brilliant  white  armor,  mounted  on  a  stately  black  war-horse, 
and  with  a  lance  in  her  right  hand,  which  she  had  learned  to 
wield  with  skill  and  grace.*  Her  head  was  unhelmeted ;  so 
that  all  could  behold  her  fair  and  expressive  features,  her  deep- 
set  and  earnest  eyes,  and  her  long  black  hair,  which  was  parted 
across  her  forehead,  and  bound  by  a  ribbon  behind  her  back. 
She  wore  at  her  side  a  small  battle-axe,  and  the  consecrated 
sword,  marked  on  the  blade  with  five  crosses,  which  had  at  her 
bidding  been  taken  for  her  from  the  shrine  of  St.  Catherine  at 
Fierbois.  A  page  carried  her  banner,  which  she  had  caused  to 
be  made  and  embroidered  as  her  voices  enjoined.  It  was 
white  satin, f  strewn  with  fleur-de-lis ;  and  on  it  were  the  words 
"  Jhesus  Maria,"  and  the  representation  of  the  Saviour  in  his 
glory.  Joan  afterwards  generally  bore  her  banner  herself  in 
battle ;  she  said  that  though  she  loved  her  sword  much,  she 
loved  her  banner  forty  times  as  much ;  and  she  loved  to  carry 
it  because  it  could  not  kill  any  one. 

Thus  accoutred,  she  came  to  lead  the  troops  of  France,  who 
looked  with  soldierly  admiration  on  her  well-proportioned  and 
upright  figure,  the  skill  with  which  she  managed  her  war-horse, 
and  the  easy  grace  with  which  she  handled  her  weapons.  Her 
military  education  had  been  short,  but  she  had  availed  herself 
of  it  well.     She  had  also  the  good  sense  to  interfere  little  with 

*  See  the  description  of  her  by  Gui  de  Laval,  quoted  in  the  note  to 
Miehelet,  p.  69  ;  and  see  the  account  of  the  banner  at  Orleans,  which  is  be- 
lieved to  bear  an  authentic  portrait  of  the  Maid,  in  Murray's  "  Handbook  for 
France,"  p.  175. 

f  "Procfes  de  Jeanne  d'Arc,"  vol.  i.,  p.  288. 


218  JOAN  OF  ARC'S   VICTORY 

the  manoeuvres  of  the  troops,  leaving  those  things  to  Dunois, 
and  others  whom  she  had  the  discernment  to  recognize  as  the 
best  officers  in  the  camp.  Her  tactics  in  action  were  simple 
enough.  As  she  herself  described  it,  "  I  used  to  say  to  them, 
'  Go  boldly  in  among  the  English,'  and  then  I  used  to  go  boldly 
in  myself."*  Such,  as  she  told  her  inquisitors,  was  the  only 
spell  she  used ;  and  it  was  one  of  power.  But  while  interfering 
little  with  the  military  discipline  of  the  troops,  in  all  matters  of 
moral  discipline  she  was  inflexibly  strict.  All  the  abandoned 
followers  of  the  camp  were  driven  away.  She  compelled  both 
generals  and  soldiers  to  attend  regularly  at  confessional.  Her 
chaplain  and  other  priests  marched  with  the  army  under  her 
orders ;  and  at  every  halt  an  altar  was  set  up  and  the  sacra- 
ment administered.  No  oath  or  foul  language  passed  without 
punishment  or  censure.  Even  the  roughest  and  most  hardened 
veterans  obeyed  her.  They  put  off  for  a  time  the  bestial  coarse- 
ness which  had  grown  on  them  during  a  life  of  bloodshed  and 
rapine ;  they  felt  that  they  must  go  forth  in  a  new  spirit  to  a 
new  career,  and  acknowledged  the  beauty  of  the  holiness  in 
which  the  heaven-sent  Maid  was  leading  them  to  certain  victory. 

Joan  marched  from  Blois  on  the  25th  of  April  with  a  convoy 
of  provisions  for  Orleans,  accompanied  by  Dunois,  La  Hire,  and 
the  other  chief  captains  of  the  French ;  and  on  the  evening  of 
the  28th  they  approached  the  town.  In  the  words  of  the  old 
chronicler  Hall  :f  "  The  Englishmen,  perceiving  that  they  with- 
in could  not  long  continue  for  faute  of  vitaile  and  ponder,  kepte 
not  their  watche  so  diligently  as  thei  were  accustomed,  nor 
scoured  now  the  countrey  environed  as  thei  before  had  or- 
dained. Whiche  negligence  the  citizens  shut  in  perceiving, 
sente  worde  thereof  to  the  French  captaines,  which  with  Pucelle 
in  the  dedde  tyme  of  the  nighte,  and  in  a  greate  rayne  and  thun- 
dere,  with  all  their  vitaile  and  artillery  entered  into  the  citie." 

When  it  was  day,  the  Maid  rode  in  solemn  procession  through 
the  city,  clad  in  complete  armor,  and  mounted  on  a  white  horse. 
Dunois  was  by  her  side,  and  all  the  bravest  knights  of  her  army 
and  of  the  garrison  followed  in  her  train.  The  whole  popula- 
tion thronged  around  her ;  and  men,  women,  and  children  strove 
to  touch  her  garments  or  her  banner  or  her  charger.  They 
poured  forth  blessings  on  her,  whom  they  already  considered 
their  deliverer.  In  the  words  used  by  two  of  them  afterwards 
before  the  tribunal  which  reversed  the  sentence,  but  could  not  re- 

*  "Procfes  de  Jeanne  d'Arc,"  vol.  i.,  p,  238.  f  Hall,  f.  127. 


AT  ORLEANS.  219 

store  the  life,  of  the  Virgin-martyr  of  France,  "the  people  of 
Orleans,  when  they  first  saw  her  in  their  city,  thought  that  it 
was  an  angel  from  heaven  that  had  come  down  to  save  them." 
Joan  spoke  gently  in  reply  to  their  acclamations  and  addresses. 
She  told  them  to  fear  God,  and  trust  in  him  for  safety  from 
the  fury  of  their  enemies.  She  first  went  to  the  principal 
church,  where  Te  Deum  was  chanted ;  and  then  she  took  up 
her  abode  in  the  house  of  Jacques  Bourgier,  one  of  the  princi- 
pal citizens,  and  whose  wife  was  a  matron  of  good  repute. 
She  refused  to  attend  a  splendid  banquet  which  had  been  pro- 
vided for  her,  and  passed  nearly  all  her  time  in  prayer. 

When  it  was  known  by  the  English  that  the  Maid  was  in  Or- 
leans, their  minds  were  not  less  occupied  about  her  than  were 
the  minds  of  those  in  the  city ;  but  it  was  in  a  very  different 
spirit.  The  English  believed  in  her  supernatural  mission  as 
firmly  as  the  French  did ;  but  they  thought  her  a  sorceress  who 
had  come  to  overthrow  them  by  her  enchantments.  An  old 
prophecy,  which  told  that  a  damsel  from  Lorraine  was  to  save 
France,  had  long  been  current ;  and  it  was  known  and  applied 
to  Joan  by  foreigners  as  well  as  by  the  natives.  For  months 
the  English  had  heard  of  the  coming  Maid  ;  and  the  tales  of 
miracles  which  she  was  said  to  have  wrought  had  been  listened 
to  by  the  rough  yeomen  of  the  English  camp  with  anxious  curi- 
osity and  secret  awe.  She  had  sent  a  herald  to  the  English 
generals  before  she  marched  for  Orleans ;  and  he  had  sum- 
moned the  English  generals  in  the  name  of  the  Most  High  to 
give  up  to  the  Maid  who  was  sent  by  Heaven  the  keys  of  the 
French  cities  which  they  had  wrongfully  taken ;  and  he  also 
solemnly  adjured  the  English  troops,  whether  archers,  or  men 
of  the  companies  of  war,  or  gentlemen,  or  others,  who  were  be- 
fore the  city  of  Orleans,  to  depart  thence  to  their  homes,  under 
peril  of  being  visited  by  the  judgment  of  God.  On  her  arrival 
in  Orleans,  Joan  sent  another  similar  message ;  but  the  English 
scoffed  at  her  from  their  towers,  and  threatened  to  burn  her 
heralds.  She  determined  before  she  shed  the  blood  of  the  be- 
siegers, to  repeat  the  warning  with  her  own  voice ;  and  accord- 
ingly she  mounted  one  of  the  boulevards  of  the  town,  which  was 
within  hearing  of  the  Tourelles;  and  thence  she  spoke  to  the 
English,  and  bade  them  depart,  otherwise  they  would  meet 
with  shame  and  woe.  Sir  William  Gladsdale  (whom  the  French 
call  Glacidas)  commanded  the  English  post  at  the  Tourelles, 
and  he  and  another  English  officer  replied  by  bidding  her  go 
home  and  keep  her  cows,  and  by  ribald  jests,  that  brought 


220  JOAN  OF  ARCS   VICTORY 

tears  of  shame  and  indignation  into  her  eyes.  But  though  the 
English  leaders  vaunted  aloud,  the  effect  produced  on  their 
army  by  Joan's  presence  in  Orleans  was  proved  four  days  after 
her  arrival ;  when,  on  the  approach  of  reinforcements  and  stores 
to  the  town,  Joan  and  La  Hire  marched  out  to  meet  them,  and 
escorted  the  long  train  of  provision  wagons  safely  into  Or- 
leans, between  the  bastilles  of  the  English,  who  cowered  be- 
hind their  walls,  instead  of  charging  fiercely  and  fearlessly,  as 
had  been  their  wont,  on  any  French  band  that  dared  to  show 
itself  within  reach. 

Thus  far  she  had  prevailed  without  striking  a  blow ;  but  the 
time  was  now  come  to  test  her  courage  amid  the  horrors  of 
actual  slaughter.  On  the  afternoon  of  the  day  on  which  she 
had  escorted  the  reinforcements  into  the  city,  while  she  was 
resting  fatigued  at  home,  Dunois  had  seized  an  advantageous 
opportunity  of  attacking  the  English  bastille  of  St.  Loup ;  and 
a  fierce  assault  of  the  Orleannais  had  been  made  on  it,  which 
the  English  garrison  of  the  fort  stubbornly  resisted.  Joan  was 
roused  by  a  sound  which  she  believed  to  be  that  of  her  heaven- 
ly voices ;  she  called  for  her  arms  and  horse,  and,  quickly  equip- 
ping herself,  she  mounted  to  ride  off  to  where  the  fight  was  rag- 
ing. In  her  haste  she  had  forgotten  her  banner;  she  rode  back, 
and,  without  dismounting,  had  it  given  to  her  from  the  window, 
and  then  she  galloped  to  the  gate,  whence  the  sally  had  been 
made.  On  her  way  she  met  some  of  the  wounded  French  who 
had  been  carried  back  from  the  fight.  "  Ha,"  she  exclaimed, 
"I  never  can  see  French  blood  flow  without  my  hair  standing 
on  end."  She  rode  out  of  the  gate,  and  met  the  tide  of  her 
countrymen,  who  had  been  repulsed  from  the  English  fort,  and 
were  flying  back  to  Orleans  in  confusion.  At  the  sight  of  the 
Holy  Maid  and  her  banner  they  rallied,  and  renewed  the  as- 
sault. Joan  rode  forward  at  their  head,  waving  her  banner  and 
cheering  them  on.  The  English  quailed  at  what  they  believed 
to  be  the  charge  of  hell ;  St.  Loup  was  stormed,  and  its  defend- 
ers put  to  the  sword,  except  some  few,  whom  Joan  succeeded 
in  saving.  All  her  woman's  gentleness  returned  when  the  com- 
bat was  over.  It  was  the  first  time  that  she  had  ever  seen  a 
battle-field.  She  wept  at  the  sight  of  so  many  blood-stained 
and  mangled  corpses ;  and  her  tears  flowed  doubly  when  she  re- 
flected that  they  were  the  bodies  of  Christian  men  who  had 
died  without  confession. 

The  next  day  was  Ascension-day,  and  it  was  passed  by  Joan 
in  prayer.     But  on  the  following  morrow  it  was  resolved  by  the 


AT  ORLEANS,  221 

chiefs  of  the  garrison  to  attack  the  English  forts  on  the  south 
of  the  river.  For  this  purpose  they  crossed  the  river  in  boats, 
and  after  some  severe  fighting,  in  which  the  Maid  was  wounded 
in  the  heel,  both  the  English  bastilles  of  the  Augustins  and  St. 
Jean  de  Blanc  were  captured.  The  Tourelles  were  now  the 
only  post  which  the  besiegers  held  on  the  south  of  the  river. 
But  that  post  was  formidably  strong,  and  by  its  command  of 
the  bridge  it  was  the  key  to  the  deliverance  of  Orleans.  It  was 
known  that  a  fresh  English  army  was  approaching  under  Falstolf e 
to  reinforce  the  besiegers,  and  should  that  army  arrive  while  the 
Tourelles  were  yet  in  the  possession  of  their  comrades,  there  was 
great  peril  of  all  the  advantages  which  the  French  had  gained  be- 
ing nullified,  and  of  the  siege  being  again  actively  carried  on. 

It  was  resolved,  therefore,  by  the  French,  to  assail  the  Tou- 
relles at  once,  while  the  enthusiasm  which  the  presence  and  the 
heroic  valor  of  the  Maid  had  created  was  at  its  height.  But 
the  enterprise  was  difficult.  The  rampart  of  the  tete-du-pont, 
or  landward  bulwark,  of  the  Tourelles  was  steep  and  high ;  and 
Sir  John  Gladsdale  occupied  this  all-important  fort  with  five 
hundred  archers  and  men-at-arms  who  were  the  very  flower  of 
the  English  army. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  7th  of  May,  some  thousands  of 
the  best  French  troops  in  Orleans  heard  mass  and  attended  the 
confessional  by  Joan's  orders ;  and  then,  crossing  the  river  in 
boats,  as  on  the  preceding  day,  they  assailed  the  bulwark  of  the 
Tourelles,  "  with  light  hearts  and  heavy  hands."  But  Glads- 
dale's  men,  encouraged  by  their  bold  and  skilful  leader,  made 
a  resolute  and  able  defence.  The  Maid  planted  her  banner  on 
the  edge  of  the  fosse,  and  then,  springing  down  into  the  ditch, 
she  placed  the  first  ladder  against  the  wall,  and  began  to  mount. 
An  English  archer  sent  an  arrow  at  her,  which  pierced  her 
corslet  and  wounded  her  severely  between  the  neck  and  shoulder. 
She  fell  bleeding  from  the  ladder;  and  the  English  were  leap- 
ing down  from  the  wall  to  capture  her,  but  her  followers  bore 
her  off.  She  was  carried  to  the  rear,  and  laid  upon  the  grass ; 
her  armor  was  taken  off,  and  the  anguish  of  her  wound  and  the 
sight  of  her  blood  made  her  at  first  tremble  and  weep.  But 
her  confidence  in  her  celestial  mission  soon  returned ;  her  pa- 
tron saints  seemed  to  stand  before  her  and  reassure  her.  She 
sat  up  and  drew  the  arrow  out  with  her  own  hands.  Some  of 
the  soldiers  who  stood  by  wished  to  stanch  the  blood,  by  say- 
ing a  charm  over  the  wound;  but  she  forbade  them,  saying 
that  she  did  not  wish  to  be  cured  by  unhallowed  means.     She 


222  JOAN  OF  ARCS  VICTORY 

had  the  wound  dressed  with  a  little  oil,  and  then,  bidding  her 
confessor  come  to  her,  she  betook  herself  to  prayer. 

In  the  meanwhile,  the  English  in  the  bulwark  of  the  Tou- 
relles  had  repulsed  the  oft-renewed  efforts  of  the  French  to  scale 
the  wall.  Dunois,  who  commanded  the  assailants,  was  at  last 
discouraged,  and  gave  orders  for  a  retreat  to  be  sounded.  Joan 
sent  for  him  and  the  other  generals,  and  implored  them  not  to 
despair.  "  By  my  God,"  she  said  to  them,  "  you  shall  soon  en- 
ter in  there.  Do  not  doubt  it.  When  you  see  my  banner  wave 
again  up  to  the  wall,  to  your  arms  again !  the  fort  is  yours. 
For  the  present  rest  a  little,  and  take  some  food  and  drink. 
They  did  so,"  says  the  old  chronicler  of  the  siege,*  "  for  they 
obeyed  her  marvellously."  The  faintness  caused  by  her  wound 
had  now  passed  off,  and  she  headed  the  French  in  another  rush 
against  the  bulwark.  The  English,  who  had  thought  her  slain, 
were  alarmed  at  her  reappearance ;  while  the  French  pressed 
furiously  and  fanatically  forward.  A  Biscayan  soldier  was  car- 
rying Joan's  banner.  She  had  told  the  troops  that  directly  the 
banner  touched  the  wall  they  should  enter.  The  Biscayan 
waved  the  banner  forward  from  the  edge  of  the  fosse,  and 
touched  the  wall  with  it ;  and  then  all  the  French  host  swarmed 
madly  up  the  ladders  that  now  were  raised  in  all  directions 
against  the  English  fort.  At  this  crisis,  the  efforts  of  the  Eng- 
lish garrison  were  distracted  by  an  attack  from  another  quarter. 
The  French  troops  who  had  been  left  in  Orleans  had  placed 
some  planks  over  the  broken  part  of  the  bridge,  and  advanced 
across  them  to  the  assault  of  the  Tourelles  on  the  northern 
side.  Gladsdale  resolved  to  withdraw  his  men  from  the  land- 
ward bulwark,  and  concentrate  his  whole  force  in  the  Tou- 
relles themselves.  He  was  passing  for  this  purpose  across  the 
drawbridge  that  connected  the  Tourelles  and  the  tete-du-pont, 
when  Joan,  who  by  this  time  had  scaled  the  wall  of  the  bul- 
wark, called  out  to  him,  "  Surrender,  surrender  to  the  King  of 
Heaven.  Ah,  Glacidas,  you  have  foully  wronged  me  with  your 
words,  but  I  have  great  pity  on  your  soul  and  the  souls  of  your 
men."  The  Englishman,  disdainful  of  her  summons,  was  strid- 
ing on  across  the  drawbridge,  when  a  cannon-shot  from  the 
town  carried  it  away,  and  Gladsdale  perished  in  the  water 
that  ran  beneath.  After  his  fall,  the  remnant  of  the  English 
abandoned  all  further  resistance.  Three  hundred  of  them  had 
been  killed  in  the  battle,  and  two  hundred  were  made  prisoners. 

*  "Journal  du  Siege  d'Orleans,"  p.  87. 


AT  ORLEANS.  223 

The  broken  arch  was  speedily  repaired  by  the  exulting  Or- 
leannais ;  and  Joan  made  her  triumphal  re-entry  into  the  city  by 
the  bridge  that  had  so  long  been  closed.  Every  church  in  Or- 
leans rang  out  its  gratulating  peal ;  and  throughout  the  night 
the  sounds  of  rejoicing  echoed,  and  the  bonfires  blazed  up  from 
the  city.  But  in  the  lines  and  forts  which  the  besiegers  yet  re- 
tained on  the  northern  shore,  there  was  anxious  watching  of  the 
generals,  and  there  was  desponding  gloom  among  the  soldiery. 
Even  Talbot  now  counselled  retreat.  On  the  following  morning, 
the  Orleannais,  from  their  walls,  saw  the  great  forts  called  "  Lon- 
don "  and  "  St.  Lawrence,"  in  flames ;  and  witnessed  their  in- 
vaders busy  in  destroying  the  stores  and  munitions  which  had 
been  relied  on  for  the  destruction  of  Orleans.  Slowly  and  sul- 
lenly the  English  army  retired ;  but  not  before  it  had  drawn  up 
in  battle  array  opposite  to  the  city,  as  if  to  challenge  the  garri- 
son to  an  encounter.  The  French  troops  were  eager  to  go  out 
and  attack,  but  Joan  forbade  it.  The  day  was  Sunday.  "  In  the 
name  of  God,"  she  said,  "let  them  depart,  and  let  us  return 
thanks  to  God."  She  led  the  soldiers  and  citizens  forth  from 
Orleans,  but  not  for  the  shedding  of  blood.  They  passed  in 
solemn  procession  round  the  city  walls ;  and  then,  while  their 
retiring  enemies  were  yet  in  sight,  they  knelt  in  thanksgiving  to 
God  for  the  deliverance  which  he  had  vouchsafed  them. 

Within  three  months  from  the  time  of  her  first  interview  with 
the  dauphin,  Joan  had  fulfilled  the  first  part  of  her  promise,  the 
raising  of  the  siege  of  Orleans.  Within  three  months  more  she 
fulfilled  the  second  part  also ;  and  she  stood  with  her  banner  in 
her  hand  by  the  high  altar  at  Rheims  while  he  was  anointed  and 
crowned  as  King  Charles  VIL  of  France.  In  the  interval  she 
had  taken  Jargeau,  Troyes,  and  other  strong  places ;  and  she 
had  defeated  an  English  army  in  a  fair  field  at  Patay.  The  en- 
thusiasm of  her  countrymen  knew  no  bounds;  but  the  impor- 
tance of  her  services,  and  especially  of  her  primary  achievement 
at  Orleans,  may  perhaps  be  best  proved  by  the  testimony  of  her 
enemies.  There  is  extant  a  fragment  of  a  letter  from  the  Re- 
gent Bedford  to  his  royal  nephew,  Henry  VI.,  in  which  he  be- 
wails the  turn  that  the  war  had  taken,  and  especially  attributes 
it  to  the  raising  of  the  siege  of  Orleans  by  Joan.  Bedford's  own 
words,  which  are  preserved  in  Rymer,*  are  as  follows : 

"  And  alle  thing  there  prospered  for  you  til  the  tyme  of  the  Siege 
of  Orleans^  taken  in  hand,  God  knoweth  hy  what  advis. 

*  Vol.  X.,  p.  403. 


224  JOAN  OF  ARCS  VICTORY 

^^  At  the  whiche  tyme^  after  the  adventure  fallen  to  the  persone 
of  my  cousin  of  Salisbury^  whom  God  assoille^  there  felle,  by  the 
hand  of  God  as  it  seemeth,  a  great  strook  upon  your  peuple  that 
was  assembled  there  in  grete  nombre,  caused  in  grete  particy  as  y 
trowCf  of  lakke  of  sadde  beleve,  and  of  unlevefulle  douhte,  that  thei 
haddeof  a  disciple  and  lyme  of  the  Feende,  called  the  PucelUy  that 
used  fals  enchantments  and  sor eerie. 

"  The  whiche  strooke  and  discomfiture  not  oonly  lessed  in  grete 
par  tie  the  nombre  of  your  peuple  there,  but  as  well  withdrewe  the 
courage  of  the  remenant  in  merveillous  wyse,  and  couraiged  your 
adverse  partie  and  ennemys  to  assemble  them  forthwith  in  grete 
nombrey 

When  Charles  had  been  anointed  King  of  France,  Joan  be- 
lieved that  her  mission  was  accomplished.  And  in  truth  the 
deliverance  of  France  from  the  English,  though  not  completed 
for  many  years  afterwards,  was  then  insured.  The  ceremony  of 
a  royal  coronation  and  anointment  was  not  in  those  days  regard- 
ed as  a  mere  costly  formality.  It  was  believed  to  confer  the 
sanction  and  the  grace  of  Heaven  upon  the  prince,  who  had  pre- 
viously ruled  with  mere  human  authority.  Thenceforth  he  was 
the  Lord's  Anointed.  Moreover,  one  of  the  diflSculties  that  had 
previously  lain  in  the  way  of  many  Frenchmen  when  called  on 
to  support  Charles  VII.  was  now  removed.  He  had  been  pub- 
licly stigmatized,  even  by  his  own  parents,  as  no  true  son  of  the 
royal  race  of  France.  The  queen-mother,  the  English,  and  the 
partisans  of  Burgundy  called  him  the  "  Pretender  to  the  title  of 
Dauphin ;"  but  those  who  had  been  led  to  doubt  his  legitimacy 
were  cured  of  their  scepticism  by  the  victories  of  the  Holy  Maid, 
and  by  the  fulfilment  of  her  pledges.  They  thought  that  Heaven 
had  now  declared  itself  in  favor  of  Charles  as  the  true  heir  of  the 
crown  of  St.  Louis ;  and  the  tales  about  his  being  spurious  were 
thenceforth  regarded  as  mere  English  calumnies.  AVith  this 
strong  tide  of  national  feeling  in  his  favor,  with  victorious  gen- 
erals and  soldiers  round  him,  and  a  dispirited  and  divided  enemy 
before  him,  he  could  not  fail  to  conquer ;  though  his  own  im- 
prudence and  misconduct,  and  the  stubborn  valor  which  some 
of  the  English  still  displayed,  prolonged  the  war  in  France  nearly 
to  the  time  when  the  civil  war  of  the  Roses  broke  out  in  Eng- 
land, and  insured  for  France  peace  and  repose. 

Joan  knelt  before  the  new-crowned  king  in  the  cathedral  of 
Rheims,  and  shed  tears  of  joy.  She  said  that  she  had  then  ful- 
filled the  work  which  the  Lord  had  commanded  her.  The  young 
girl  now  asked  for  her  dismissal.     She  wished  to  return  to  her 


AT  ORLEANS.  225 

peasant  home,  to  tend  her  parent's  flocks  again,  and  to  live  at 
her  own  will  in  her  native  village.*  She  had  always  believed 
that  her  career  would  be  a  short  one.  But  Charles  and  his  cap- 
tains were  loath  to  lose  the  presence  of  one  who  had  such  an  in- 
fluence upon  the  soldiery  and  the  people.  They  persuaded  her 
to  stay  with  the  army.  She  still  showed  the  same  bravery  and 
zeal  for  the  cause  of  France.  She  was  as  fervent  as  before  in 
her  prayers,  and  as  exemplary  in  all  religious  duties.  She  still 
heard  her  heavenly  voices,  but  she  now  no  longer  thought  her- 
self the  appointed  minister  of  Heaven  to  lead  her  countrymen  to 
certain  victory.  Our  admiration  for  her  courage  and  patriotism 
ought  to  be  increased  a  hundred-fold  by  her  conduct  throughout 
the  latter  part  of  her  career,  amid  dangers  against  which  she  no 
longer  believed  herself  to  be  divinely  secured.  Indeed,  she  be- 
lieved herself  doomed  to  perish  in  little  more  than  a  year;]-  but 
she  still  fought  on  as  resolutely,  if  not  as  exultingly,  as  ever. 

As  in  the  case  of  Arminius,  the  interest  attached  to  individual 
heroism  and  virtue  makes  us  trace  the  fate  of  Joan  of  Arc  after 
she  had  saved  her  country.  She  served  well  with  Charles's  army 
in  the  capture  of  Laon,  Soissons,  Compeigne,  Beauvais,  and  other 
strong  places ;  but  in  a  premature  attack  on  Paris,  in  September, 
1429,  the  French  were  repulsed,  and  Joan  was  severely  wounded: 
In  the  winter  she  was  again  in  the  field  with  some  of  the  French 
troops ;  and  in  the  following  spring  she  threw  herself  into  the 
fortress  of  Compeigne,  which  she  had  herself  won  for  the  French 
king  in  the  preceding  autumn,  and  which  was  now  besieged  by 
a  strong  Burgundian  force. 

She  was  taken  prisoner  in  a  sally  from  Compeigne,  on  the  24th 
of  May,  and  was  imprisoned  by  the  Burgundians  first  at  Arras, 
and  then  at  a  place  called  Crotoy,  on  the  Flemish  coast,  until 
November,  when  for  payment  of  a  large  sum  of  money  she  was 
given  up  to  the  English,  and  taken  to  Rouen,  which 'was  then 
their  main  stronghold  in  France. 

"Sorrow  it  were,  and  shame  to  tell, 
The  butchery  that  there  befell." 

And  the  revolting  details  of  the  cruelties  practised  upon  this 
young  girl  may  be  left  to  those  whose  duty  as  avowed  biogra- 

*  "  Je  voudrais  bien  qu'il  voulut  me  faire  ramener  aupres  mes  pere  et  m^re, 
a  garder  leurs  brebis  et  betail,  et  faire  ee  que  je  voudrois  faire." 

f  *'  Des  le  commencement  elle  avait  dit, '  II  me  faut  employer :  je  ne  lurerai 
qu'un  an,  ou  gufere  plus.'  " — Michelet,  v.,  p.  101. 


226  JOAN  OF  ARCS  VICTORY 

phers  it  is  to  describe  them.*  She  was  tried  before  an  ecclesiasti- 
cal tribunal  on  the  charge  of  witchcraft,  and  on  the  30th  of  May, 
1431,  she  was  burned  alive  in  the  market-place  at  Rouen. 

I  will  add  but  one  remark  on  the  character  of  the  truest  hero- 
ine that  the  world  has  ever  seen. 

If  any  person  can  be  found  in  the  present  age  who  would  join 
in  the  scoffs  of  Voltaire  against  the  Maid  of  Orleans  and  the 
heavenly  voices  by  which  she  believed  herself  inspired,  let  him 
read  the  life  of  the  wisest  and  best  man  that  the  heathen  nations 
ever  produced.  Let  him  read  of  the  heavenly  voice  by  which 
Socrates  believed  himself  to  be  constantly  attended ;  which  cau- 
tioned him  on  his  way  from  the  field  of  battle  at  Delium,  and 
which  from  his  boyhood  to  the  time  of  his  death  visited  him 
with  unearthly  warnings. f  Let  the  modern  reader  reflect  upon 
this ;  and  then,  unless  he  is  prepared  to  term  Socrates  either  fool 
or  in\postor,  let  him  not  dare  to  deride  or  vilify  Joan  of  Arc. 

SYNOPSIS  OF  EVENTS  BETWEEN  JOAN  OF  ARC'S  VICTORY  AT 
ORLEANS,  A.D.  1429,  AND  THE  DEFEAT  OF  THE  SPANISH  AR- 
MADA, A.D.  1588. 

A.D.  1452.  Final  expulsion  of  the  English  from  France. 

1453.  Constantinople  taken,  and  the  Roman  empire  of  the 
East  destroyed  by  the  Turkish  Sultan  Mahomet  II. 

1455.  Commencement  of  the  civil  wars  in  England  between 
the  Houses  of  York  and  Lancaster. 

1479.  Union  of  the  Christian  kingdoms  of  Spain  under  Fer- 
dinand and  Isabella. 

1492.  Capture  of  Grenada  by  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  and  end 
of  the  Moorish  dominion  in  Spain. 

1492.  Columbus  discovers  the  New  World. 

1494.  Charles  VIII.  of  France  invades  Italy. 

1497.  Expedition  of  Vasco  di  Gama  to  the  East  Indies  round 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 

*  The  whole  of  the  *'  Proces  de  Condamnation  et  de  Rehabilitation  de 
Jeanne  d'Arc"  has  been  published  in  five  volumes,  by  the  Societe  de  I'His- 
toire  de  France.  All  the  passages  from  contemporary  chroniclers  and  poets 
are  added ;  and  the  most  ample  materials  are  thus  given  for  acquiring  full 
information  on  a  subject  which  is,  to  an  Englishman,  one  of  painful  interest. 
There  is  an  admirable  essay  on  Joan  of  Arc  in  the  138th  number  of  the 
Quarterly. 

f  See  Cicero,  "De  Divinatione,"  lib.  i.,  sec.  41 ;  and  see  the  words  of  Soc- 
rates himself,  in  Plato,  "  Apol.  Soc."  :  "On  /iot  QfXov  rt  Kal  Saifioviov  ytyvcrai. 
'Efioi  St  Tovr  iffTiv  Ik  rraiSog  dpKa^tvov,  (pojvn  rig  yiyvofikvt],  k.t.X. 


AT  ORLEANS.  .221 

1503.  Naples  conquered  from  the  Freiicli  by  the  great  Span- 
ish general,  Gonsalvo  of  Cordova. 

1508.  League  of  Cambray,  by  the  pope,  the  emperor,  and  the 
King  of  France,  against  Venice. 

1509.  Albuquerque  establishes  the  empire  of  the  Portuguese 
in  the  East  Indies. 

1516.  Death  of  Ferdinand  of  Spain;  he  is  succeeded  by  his 
grandson  Charles,  afterwards  the  Emperor  Charles  V. 

1517.  Dispute  between  Luther  and  Tetzel  respecting  the  sale 
of  indulgences,  which  is  the  immediate  cause  of  the  Reforma- 
tion. 

1519.  Charles  V.  is  elected  Emperor  of  Germany. 

1520.  Cortez  conquers  Mexico. 

1525.  Francis  L  of  France  defeated  and  taken  prisoner  by  the 
imperial  army  at  Pavia. 

1529.  League  of  Smalcald  formed  by  the  Protestant  princes 
of  Germany. 

1533.  Henry  VIII.  renounces  the  papal  supremacy. 

1533.  Pizarro  conquers  Peru. 

1556.  Abdication  of  the  Emperor  Charles  V.  Philip  II.  be- 
comes King  of  Spain,  and  Ferdinand  I.  Emperor  of  Germany. 

1557.  Elizabeth  becomes  Queen  of  England. 

1557.  The  Spaniards  defeat  the  French  at  the  battle  of  St. 
Quentin. 

1571.  Don  John  of  Austria  at  the  head  of  the  Spanish  fleet, 
aided  by  the  Venetian  and  the  papal  squadrons,  defeats  the 
Turks  at  Lepanto. 

1572.  Massacre  of  the  Protestants  in  France  on  St.  Bartholo- 
mew's Day. 

1579.  The  Netherlands  revolt  against  Spain. 

1580.  Philip  II.  conquers  Portugal. 


228.  DEFEAT  OF 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE    DEFEAT    OF    THE    SPANISH    ARMADA,  A.D.  1688. 

"  In  that  memorable  year,  when  the  dark  cloud  gathered  round  our  coasts, 
when  Europe  stood  by  in  fearful  suspense  to  behold  what  should  be  the  re- 
sult of  that  great  cast  in  the  game  of  human  politics,  what  the  craft  of  Rome, 
the  power  of  Philip,  the  genius  of  Farnese  could  achieve  against  the  island- 
queen,  with  her  Drakes  and  Cecils — in  that  agony  of  the  Protestant  faith  and 
English  name." — Hallam,  Const.  Hist.,  vol.  i.,  p.  220. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  19th  of  July,  a.d.  1588,  a  group  of 
English  captains  was  collected  at  the  Bowling  Green  on  the  Hoe 
at  Plymouth  whose  equals  have  never  before  or  since  been 
brought  together,  even  at  that  favorite  mustering-place  of  the 
heroes  of  the  British  navy.  There  was  Sir  Francis  Drake,  the 
first  English  circumnavigator  of  the  globe,  the  terror  of  every 
Spanish  coast  in  the  Old  World  and  the  New;  there  was  Sir 
John  Hawkins,  the  rough  veteran  of  many  a  daring  voyage  on 
the  African  and  American  seas,  and  of  many  a  desperate  battle ; 
there  was  Sir  Martin  Frobisher,  one  of  the  earliest  explorers  of 
the  Arctic  seas  in  search  of  that  Northwest  Passage  which  is 
still  the  darling  object  of  England's  boldest  mariners.  There 
was  the  high-admiral  of  England,  Lord  Howard  of  Effingham, 
prodigal  of  all  things  in  his  country's  cause,  and  who  had  re- 
cently had  the  noble  daring  to  refuse  to  dismantle  part  of  the 
fleet,  though  the  queen  had  sent  him  orders  to  do  so,  in  conse- 
quence of  an  exaggerated  report  that  the  enemy  had  been  driven 
back  and  shattered  by  a  storm.  Lord  Howard  (whom  contem- 
porary writers  describe  as  being  of  a  wise  and  noble  courage, 
skilful  in  sea  matters,  wary  and  provident,  and  of  great  esteem 
among  the  sailors)  resolved  to  risk  his  sovereign's  anger,  and 
to  keep  the  ships  afloat  at  his  own  charge,  rather  than  that  Eng- 
land should  run  the  peril  of  losing  their  protection. 

Another  of  our  Elizabethan  sea-kings.  Sir  Walter  Raleigh, 
was  at  that  time  commissioned  to  raise  and  equip  the  land-forces 
of  Cornwall ;  but,  as  he  was  also  commander  of  Plymouth,  we 
may  well  believe  that  he  must  have  availed  himself  of  the  op- 
portunity of  consulting  with  the  lord-admiral  and  other  high 


THE  SPANISH  ARMADA.  229 

officers  which  was  offered  by  the  English  fleet  putting  into  that 
port;  and  we  may  look  on  Raleigh  as  one  of  the  group  that  was 
assembled  at  the  Bowling  Green  on  the  Hoe.  Many  other  brave 
men  and  skilful  mariners,  besides  the  chiefs  whose  names  have 
been  mentioned,  were  there,  enjoying,  with  true  sailor-like  mer- 
riment, their  temporary  relaxation  from  duty.  In  the  harbor  lay 
the  English  fleet  with  which  they  had  just  returned  from  a  cruise 
to  Corunna  in  search  of  information  respecting  the  real  condition 
and  movements  of  the  hostile  Armada.  Lord  Howard  had  as- 
certained that  our  enemies,  though  tempest-tossed,  were  still  for- 
midably strong;  and  fearing  that  part  of  their  fleet  might  make 
for  England  in  his  absence,  he  had  hurried  back  to  the  Devon- 
shire coast.  He  resumed  his  station  at  Plymouth,  and  waited 
there  for  certain  tidings  of  the  Spaniard's  approach. 

A  match  at  bowls  was  being  played,  in  which  Drake  and 
other  high  officers  of  the  fleet  were  engaged,  when  a  small 
armed  vessel  was  seen  running  before  the  wind  into  Plymouth 
harbor,  with  all  sails  set.  Her  commander  landed  in  haste,  and 
eagerly  sought  the  place  where  the  English  lord-admiral  and  his 
captains  were  standing.  His  name  was  Fleming ;  he  was  the 
master  of  a  Scotch  privateer;  and  he  told  the  English  officers 
that  he  had  that  morning  seen  the  Spanish  Armada  off  the  Cor- 
nish coast.  At  this  exciting  information  the  captains  began  to 
hurry  down  to  the  water,  and  there  was  a  shouting  for  the  ship's 
boats;  but  Drake  coolly  checked  his  comrades,  and  insisted  that 
the  match  should  be  played  out.  He  said  that  there  was  plenty 
of  time  both  to  win  the  game  and  beat  the  Spaniards.  The  best 
and  bravest  match  that  was  ever  scored  was  resumed  accord- 
ingly. Drake  and  his  friends  aimed  their  last  bowls  with  the 
same  steady,  calculating  coolness  with  which  they  were  about  to 
point  their  guns.  The  winning  cast  was  made ;  and  then  they 
went  on  board  and  prepared  for  action,  with  their  hearts  as  light 
and  their  nerves  as  firm  as  they  had  been  on  the  Hoe  Bowling 
Green. 

Meanwhile  the  messengers  and  signals  had  been  despatched 
fast  and  far  through  England,  to  warn  each  town  and  village 
that  the  enemy  had  come  at  last.  In  every  seaport  there  was 
instant  making  ready  by  land  and  by  sea;  in  every  shire  and 
every  city  there  was  instant  mustering  of  horse  and  man.*    But 

*  In  Macaulay's  ballad  on  the  Spanish  Armada,  the  transmission  of  the 
tldinf^js  of  the  Armada's  approach,  and  the  arming  of  the  English  nation,  are 
magnificently  described.    The  progress  of  the  fire-signals  is  depicted  in  lines 


230  DEFEAT  OF 

England's  best  defence  then,  as  ever,  was  her  fleet ;  and  after 
warping  laboriously  out  of  Plymouth  harbor  against  the  wind, 
the  lord-admiral  stood  westward  under  easy  sail,  keeping  an 
anxious  lookout  for  the  Armada,  the  approach  of  which  was 
soon  announced  by  Cornish  fishing-boats  and  signals  from  the 
Cornish  cliffs. 

The  England  of  our  own  days  is  so  strong,  and  the  Spain  of 
our  own  days  is  so  feeble,  that  it  is  not  possible,  without  some 
reflection  and  care,  to  comprehend  the  full  extent  of  the  peril 
which  England  then  ran  from  the  power  and  the  ambition  of 
Spain,  or  to  appreciate  the  importance  of  that  crisis  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  world.  We  had  then  no  Indian  or  Colonial  Empire 
save  the  feeble  germs  of  our  North  American  settlements,  which 
Raleigh  and  Gilbert  had  recently  planted.  Scotland  was  a  sepa- 
rate kingdom ;  and  Ireland  was  then  even  a  greater  source  of 
weakness,  and  a  worse  nest  of  rebellion,  than  she  has  been  in 
after-times.  Queen  Elizabeth  had  found  at  her  accession  an  en- 
cumbered revenue,  a  divided  people,  and  an  unsuccessful  foreign 
war,  in  which  the  last  remnant  of  our  possessions  in  France  had 
been  lost ;  she  had  also  a  formidable  pretender  to  her  crown, 
whose  interests  were  favored  by  all  the  Roman  Catholic  powers ; 
and  even  some  of  her  subjects  were  warped  by  religious  bigotry 
to  deny  her  title,  and  to  look  on  her  as  an  heretical  usurper.  It 
is  true  that  during  the  years  of  her  reign  which  had  passed  away 
before  the  attempted  invasion  of  1588,  she  had  revived  the  com- 
mercial prosperity,  the  national  spirit,  and  the  national  loyalty 
of  England.  But  her  resources,  to  cope  with  the  colossal  power 
of  Philip  II.,  still  seemed  most  scanty ;  and  she  had  not  a  sin- 
gle foreign  ally,  except  the  Dutch,  who  were  themselves  strug- 
gling hard,  and,  as  it  seemed,  hopelessly,  to  maintain  their  revolt 
against  Spain. 

On  the  other  hand,  Philip  II.  was  absolute  master  of  an  em- 
pire so  superior  to  the  other  states  of  the  world  in  extent,  in  re- 
sources, and  especially  in  military  and  naval  forces,  as  to  make 
the  project  of  enlarging  that  empire  into  a  universal  monarchy 
seem  a  perfectly  feasible  scheme ;  and  Philip  had  both  the  am- 
bition to  form  that  project  and  the  resolution  to  devote  all  his 
energies  and  all  his  means  to  its  realization.  Since  the  down- 
fall of  the  Roman  empire  no  such  preponderating  power  had  ex- 

which  are  worthy  of  comparison  with  the  renowned  passage  in  the  Agamem- 
non which  describes  the  transmission  of  the  beacon-light  announcing  the  fall 
of  Troy,  from  Mount  Ida  to  Argos. 


THE  SPANISH  ARMADA.  231 

isted  in  tlie  world.  During  the  mediaeval  centuries  tlie  chief 
European  kingdoms  were  slowly  moulding  themselves  out  of  the 
feudal  chaos.  And,  though  their  wars  with  each  other  were  nu- 
merous and  desperate,  and  several  of  their  respective  kings  fig- 
ured for  a  time  as  mighty  conquerors,  none  of  them  in  those 
times  acquired  the  Consistency  and  perfect  organization  which 
are  requisite  for  a  long-sustained  career  of  aggrandizement. 
After  the  consolidation  of  the  great  kingdoms,  they  for  some 
time  kept  each  other  in  mutual  check.  During  the  first  half  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  the  balancing  system  was  successfully  prac- 
tised by  European  statesmen.  But  when  Philip  11.  reigned, 
France  had  become  so  miserably  weak  through  her  civil  wars 
that  he  had  nothing  to  dread  from  the  rival  state,  which  had  so 
long  curbed  his  father,  the  emperor  Charles  V.  In  Germany, 
Italy,  and  Poland,  he  had  either  zealous  friends  and  dependants, 
or  weak  and  divided  enemies.  Against  the  Turks  he  had  gained 
great  and  glorious  successes ;  and  he  might  look  round  the  con- 
tinent of  Europe  without  discerning  a  single  antagonist  of  whom 
he  could  stand  in  awe.  Spain,  when  he  acceded  to  the  throne, 
was  at  the  zenith  of  her  power.  The  hardihood  and  spirit  which 
the  Arragonese,  the  Castilians,  and  the  other  nations  of  the  Pen- 
insula had  acquired  during  centuries  of  free  institutions  and 
successful  war  against  the  Moors  had  not  yet  become  obliterated. 
Charles  V.  had,  indeed,  destroyed  the  liberties  of  Spain  ;  but  that 
had  been  done  too  recently  for  its  full  evil  to  be  felt  in  Philip's 
time.  A  people  cannot  be  debased  in  a  single  generation ;  and 
the  Spaniards  under  Charles  V.  and  Philip  II.  proved  the  truth 
of  the  remark  that  no  nation  is  ever  so  formidable  to  its  neigh- 
bors, for  a  time,  as  is  a  nation  which,  after  being  trained  up  in 
self-government,  passes  suddenly  under  a  despotic  ruler.  The 
energy  of  democratic  institutions  survives  for  a  few  generations, 
and  to  it  are  superadded  the  decision  and  certainty  which  are 
the  attributes  of  government  when  all  its  powers  are  directed 
by  a  single  mind.  It  is  true  that  this  preternatural  vigor  is  short- 
lived :  national  corruption  and  debasement  gradually  follow  the 
loss  of  the  national  liberties  ;  but  there  is  an  interval  before  their 
workings  are  felt,  and  in  that  interval  the  most  ambitious  schemes 
of  foreign  conquest  are  often  successfully  undertaken. 

Philip  had  also  the  advantage  of  finding  himself  at  the  head 
of  a  large  standing  army  in  a  perfect  state  of  discipline  and 
equipment,  in  an  age  when,  except  some  few  insignificant  corps, 
standing  armies  were  unknown  in  Christendom.  The  renown 
of  the  Spanish  troops  was  justly  high,  and  the  infantry  in  par- 


232  DEFEAT  OF 

ticular  was  considered  the  best  in  the  world.  His  fleet,  also, 
was  far  more  numerous  and  better  appointed  than  that  of  any- 
other  European  power;  and  both  his  soldiers  and  his  sailors 
had  the  confidence  in  themselves  and  their  commanders  which 
a  long  career  of  successful  warfare  alone  can  create. 

Besides  the  Spanish  crown,  Philip  succeeded  to  the  kingdom 
of  Naples  and  Sicily,  the  Duchy  of  Milan,  Franche-Comte,  and 
the  Netherlands.  In  Africa  he  possessed  Tunis,  Oran,  the  Cape 
Verde,  and  the  Canary  Islands ;  and  in  Asia,  the  Philippine  and 
Sunda  Islands,  and  a  part  of  the  Moluccas.  Beyond  the  Atlan- 
tic he  was  lord  of  the  most  splendid  portions  of  the  New  World 
which  "  Columbus  found  for  Castile  and  Leon."  The  empires 
of  Peru  and  Mexico,  New  Spain,  and  Chili,  with  their  abundant 
mines  of  the  precious  metals,  Hispaniola  and  Cuba,  and  many 
other  of  the  American  islands,  were  provinces  of  the  sovereign 
of  Spain. 

Philip  had,  indeed,  experienced  the  mortification  of  seeing 
the  inhabitants  of  the  Netherlands  revolt  against  his  authority, 
nor  could  he  succeed  in  bringing  back  beneath  the  Spanish 
sceptre  all  the  possessions  which  his  father  had  bequeathed  to 
him.  But  he  had  reconquered  a  large  number  of  the  towns  and 
districts  that  originally  took  up  arms  against  him.  Belgium 
was  brought  more  thoroughly  into  implicit  obedience  to  Spain 
than  she  had  been  before  her  insurrection,  and  it  was  only  Hol- 
land and  the  six  other  northern  states  that  still  held  out  against 
his  arms.  The  contest  had  also  formed  a  compact  and  veteran 
army  on  Philip's  side,  which,  under  his  great  general,  the  Prince 
of  Parma,  had  been  trained  to  act  together  under  all  difficulties 
and  all  vicissitudes  of  warfare ;  and  on  whose  steadiness  and 
loyalty  perfect  reliance  might  be  placed  throughout  any  enter- 
prise, however  difficult  and  tedious.  Alexander  Farnese,  Prince 
of  Parma,  captain-general  of  the  Spanish  armies,  and  governor 
of  the  Spanish  possessions  in  the  Netherlands,  was  beyond  all 
comparison  the  greatest  military  genius  of  his  age.  He  was 
also  highly  distinguished  for  political  wisdom  and  sagacity,  and 
for  his  great  administrative  talents.  He  was  idolized  by  his 
troops,  whose  affections  he  knew  how  to  win  without  relaxing 
their  discipline  or  diminishing  his  own  authority.  Pre-emi- 
nently cool  and  circumspect  in  his  plans,  but  swift  and  energetic 
when  the  moment  arrived  for  striking  a  decisive  blow,  neglect- 
ing no  risk  that  caution  could  provide  against,  conciliating  even 
the  populations  of  the  districts  which  he  attacked  by  his  scru- 
pulous good  faith)  his  moderation,  and  his  address,  Farnese  was 


THE  SPANISH  ARMADA.  233 

one  of  the  most  formidable  generals  that  ever  could  be  placed 
at  the  head  of  an  army  designed  not  only  to  win  battles,  but  to 
effect  conquests.  Happy  it  is  for  England  and  the  world  that 
this  island  was  saved  from  becoming  an  arena  for  the  exhibition 
of  his  powers. 

Whatever  diminution  the  Spanish  empire  might  have  sus- 
tained in  the  Netherlands  seemed  to  be  more  than  compensated 
by  the  acquisition  of  Portugal,  which  Philip  had  completely 
conquered  in  1580.  Not  only  that  ancient  kingdom  itself,  but 
all  the  fruits  of  the  maritime  enterprises  of  the  Portuguese  had 
fallen  into  Philip's  hands.  All  the  Portuguese  colonies  in  Amer- 
ica, Africa,  and  the  East  Indies  acknowledged  the  sovereignty  of 
the  King  of  Spain  ;  who  thus  not  only  united  the  whole  Iberian 
peninsula  under  his  single  sceptre,  but  had  acquired  a  trans- 
marine empire,  little  inferior  in  wealth  and  extent  to  that  which 
he  had  inherited  at  his  accession.  The  splendid  victory  which 
his  fleet,  in  conjunction  with  the  papal  and  Venetian  galleys, 
had  gained  at  Lepanto  over  the  Turks  had  deservedly  exalted 
the  fame  of  the  Spanish  marine  throughout  Christendom ;  and 
when  Philip  had  reigned  thirty-five  years  the  vigor  of  his  em- 
pire seemed  unbroken,  and  the  glory  of  the  Spanish  arms  had 
increased,  and  was  increasing,  throughout  the  world. 

One  nation  only  had  been  his  active,  his  persevering,  and  his 
successful  foe.  England  had  encouraged  his  revolted  subjects 
in  Flanders  against  him,  and  given  them  the  aid  in  men  and 
money  without  which  they  must  soon  have  been  humbled  in 
the  dust.  English  ships  had  plundered  his  colonies ;  had  defied 
his  supremacy  in  the  New  World  as  well  as  the  Old ;  they  had 
inflicted  ignominious  defeats  on  his  squadrons;  they  had  cap- 
tured his  cities,  and  burned  his  arsenals  on  the  very  coasts  of 
Spain.  The  English  had  made  Philip  himself  the  object  of 
personal  insult.  He  was  held  up  to  ridicule  in  their  stage  plays 
and  masques,  and  these  scoffs  at  the  man  had  (as  is  not  unusual 
in  such  cases)  excited  the  anger  of  the  absolute  king,  even  more 
vehemently  than  the  injuries  inflicted  on  his  power.*  Personal 
as  well  as  political  revenge  urged  him  to  attack  England.  Were 
she  once  subdued,  the  Dutch  must  submit ;  France  could  not 
cope  with  him,  the  empire  would  not  oppose  him  ;  and  universal 
dominion  seemed  sure  to  be  the  result  of  the  conquest  of  that 
malignant  island. 

There  was  yet  another  and  a  stronger  feeling  which  armed 

*  See  Ranlve'a  "History  of  the  Popes,"  vol,  ii.,  p.  170, 


234  DEFEAT  OF 

King  Philip  against  England.  He  was  one  of  the  sincerest  and 
sternest  bigots  of  his  age.  He  looked  on  himself,  and  was 
looked  on  by  others,  as  the  appointed  champion  to  extirpate 
heresy  and  re-establish  the  papal  power  throughout  Europe. 
A  powerful  reaction  against  Protestantism  had  taken  place  since 
the  commencement  of  the  second  half  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
and  Philip  believed  that  he  was  destined  to  complete  it.  The 
Reform  doctrines  had  been  thoroughly  rooted  out  from  Italy 
and  Spain.  Belgium,  which  had  previously  been  half  Protestant, 
had  been  reconquered  both  in  allegiance  and  creed  by  Philip, 
and  had  become  one  of  the  most  Catholic  countries  in  the  world. 
Half  Germany  had  been  won  back  to  the  old  faith.  In  Savoy, 
in  Switzerland,  and  many  other  countries,  the  progress  of  the 
counter-Reformation  had  been  rapid  and  decisive.  The  Catho- 
lic league  seemed  victorious  in  France.  The  papal  court  itself 
had  shaken  off  the  supineness  of  recent  centuries ;  and,  at  the 
head  of  the  Jesuits  and  th^  other  new  ecclesiastical  orders,  was 
displaying  a  vigor  and  a  boldness  worthy  of  the  days  of  Hilde- 
brand  or  Innocent  III. 

Throughout  Continental  Europe,  the  Protestants,  discomfited 
and  dismayed,  looked  to  England  as  their, protector  and  refuge. 
England  was  the  acknowledged  central  point  of  Protestant  power 
and  policy ;  and  to  conquer  England  was  to  stab  Protestantism 
to  the  very  heart.  Sixtus  V.,  the  then  reigning  pope,  earnestly 
exhorted  Philip  to  this  enterprise.  And  when  the  tidings  reached 
Italy  and  Spain  that  the  Protestant  queen  of  England  had  put 
to  death  her  Catholic  prisoner,  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  the  fury 
of  the  Vatican  and  Escurial  knew  no  bounds. 

The  Prince  of  Parma,  who  was  appointed  military  chief  of  the 
expedition,  collected  on  the  coast  of  Flanders  a  veteran  force 
that  was  to  play  a  principal  part  in  the  conquest  of  England. 
Besides  the  troops  who  were  in  his  garrisons,  or  under  his  col- 
ors, five  thousand  infantry  were  sent  to  him  from  Northern  and 
Central  Italy,  four  thousand  from  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  six 
thousand  from  Castile,  three  thousand  from  Arragon,  three 
thousand  from  Austria  and  Germany,  together  with  four  squad- 
rons of  heary-armed  horse ;  besides  which  he  received  forces 
from  the  Franche-Comte  and  the  Walloon  country.  By  his 
command,  the  forest  of  Waes  was  felled  for  the  purpose  of 
building  flat-bottomed  boats,  which,  floating  down  the  rivers  and 
canals  to  Meinport  and  Dunkerque,  were  to  carry  this  large 
army  of  chosen  troops  to  the  mouth  of  the  Thames,  under  the 
escort  of  the  great  Spanish  fleet.     Gun-carriages,  fascines,  ma- 


THE  SPANISH  ARMADA.  235 

chines  used  in  sieges,  together  with  every  material  requisite  for 
building  bridges,  forming  camps,  and  raising  fortresses,  were 
to  be  placed  on  board  the  flotillas  of  the  Prince  of  Parma,  who 
followed  up  the  conquest  of  the  Netherlands  while  he  was 
making  preparations  for  the  invasion  of  this  island.  Favored 
by  the  dissensions  between  the  insurgents  of  the  United  Prov- 
inces and  Leicester,  the  Prince  of  Parma  had  recovered  De- 
venter,  as  well  as  a  fort  before  Zutphen,  which  the  English 
commanders.  Sir  William  Stanley,  the  friend  of  Babington,  and 
Sir  Roland  York,  had  surrendered  to  him,  when  with  their 
troops  they  passed  over  to  the  service  of  Philip  II.,  after  the 
death  of  Mary  Stuart,  and  he  had  also  made  himself  master  of 
the  Sluys.  His  intention  was  to  leave  to  the  Count  de  Mans- 
feldt  sufficient  forces  to  follow  up  the  war  with  the  Dutch, 
which  had  now  become  a  secondary  object,  while  he  himself 
went,  at  the  head  of  fifty  thousand  men  of  the  Armada  and  the 
flotilla,  to  accomplish  the  principal  enterprise — that  enterprise 
which,  in  the  highest  degree,  affected  the  interests  of  the  pon- 
tifical authority.  In  a  bull,  intended  to  be  kept  secret  until  the 
day  of  landing,  Sixtus  V.,  renewing  the  anathema  fulminated 
against  Elizabeth  by  Pius  V.  and  Gregory  XIII.,  affected  to  de- 
pose her  from  our  throne.* 

Elizabeth  was  denounced  as  a  murderous  heretic  whose  de- 
struction was  an  instant  duty.  A  formal  treaty  was  concluded 
(in  June,  1587),  by  which  the  pope  bound  himself  to  contribute 
a  million  of  scudi  to  the  expenses  of  the  war ;  the  money  to  be 
paid  as  soon  as  the  king  had  actual  possession  of  an  English 
port.  Philip,  on  his  part,  strained  the  resources  of  his  vast  em- 
pire to  the  utmost.  The  French  Catholic  chiefs  eagerly  co- 
operated with  him.  In  the  sea-ports  of  the  Mediterranean,  and 
along  almost  the  whole  coast  from  Gibraltar  to  Jutland,  the 
preparations  for  the  great  armament  were  urged  forward  with 
all  the  earnestness  of  religious  zeal,  as  well  as  of  angry  ambi- 
tion. "  Thus,"  says  the  German  historian  of  the  popes,f  "  thus 
did  the  united  powers  of  Italy  and  Spain,  from  which  such 
mighty  influences  had  gone  forth  over  the  whole  world,  now 
rouse  themselves  for  an  attack  upon  England !  The  king  had 
already  compiled,  from  the  archives  of  Simancas,  a  statement 
of  the  claims  which  he  had  to  the  throne  of  that  country  on  the 
extinction  of  the  Stuart  line ;  the  most  brilliant  prospects,  espe- 

*  See  Mignet's  "  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,"  vol.  ii. 
/  f  Ranke,  vol.  ii.,  p.  172. 


236  DEFEAT  OF 

cially  that  of  a  universal  dominion  of  the  seas,  were  associated 
in  his  mind  with  this  enterprise.  Everything  seemed  to  con- 
spire to  such  end;  the  predominance  of  Catholicism  in  Ger- 
many, the  renewed  attack  upon  the  Huguenots  in  France,  the 
attempt  upon  Geneva,  and  the  enterprise  against  England.  At 
the  same  moment  a  thoroughly  Catholic  prince,  Sigismund  III., 
ascended  the  throne  of  Poland,  with  the  prospect  also  of  future 
succession  to  the  throne  of  Sweden.  But  whenever  any  princi- 
ple or  power,  be  it  what  it  may,  aims  at  unlimited  supremacy  in 
Europe,  some  vigorous  resistance  to  it,  having  its  origin  in  the 
deepest  springs  of  human  nature,  invariably  arises.  Philip  II. 
had  had  to  encounter  newly  awakened  powers,  braced  by  the 
vigor  of  youth,  and  elevated  by  a  sense  of  their  future  destiny. 
The  intrepid  corsairs,  who  had  rendered  every  sea  insecure,  now 
clustered  round  the  coasts  of  their  native  island.  The  Protest- 
ants in  a  body  —  even  the  Puritans,  although  they  had  been 
subjected  to  as  severe  oppressions  as  the  Catholics  —  rallied 
round  their  queen,  who  now  gave  admirable  proof  of  her 
masculine  courage,  and  her  princely  talent  of  winning  the  af- 
fections, and  leading  the  minds,  and  preserving  the  allegiance 
of  men." 

Ranke  should  have  added  that  the  English  Catholics  at  this 
crisis  proved  themselves  as  loyal  to  their  queen,  and  true  to 
their  country,  as  were  the  most  vehement  anti-Catholic  zealots 
in  the  island.  Some  few  traitors  there  were;  but,  as  a  body, 
the  Englishmen  who  held  the  ancient  faith  stood  the  trial  of 
their  patriotism  nobly.  The  lord-admiral  himself  was  a  Catho- 
lic, and  (to  adopt  the  words  of  Hallam)  "  then  it  was  that  the 
Catholics  in  every  county  repaired  to  the  standard  of  the  lord- 
lieutenant,  imploring  that  they  might  not  be  suspected  of  bar- 
tering the  national  independence  for  their  religion  itself.'*  The 
Spaniard  found  no  partisans  in  the  country  which  he  assailed, 
nor  did  England,  self-wounded, 

"Lie  at  the  proud  foot  of  her  enemy." 

For  some  time  the  destination  of  the  enormous  armament  of 
Philip  was  not  publicly  announced.  Only  Philip  himself,  the 
Pope  Sixtus,  the  Duke  of  Guise,  and  Philip's  favorite  minister, 
Mendoza,  at  first  knew  its  real  object.  Rumors  were  sedulously 
spread  that  it  was  designed  to  proceed  to  the  Indies  to  realize 
vast  projects  of  distant  conque'st.  Sometimes  hints  were  dropped 
by  Philip's  ambassadors  in  foreign  courts  that  his  master  had 
resolved  on  a  decisive  effort  to  crush  his  rebels  in  the  Low 


THE  SPANISH  ARMADA,  237 

Countries.  But  Elizabeth  and  her  statesmen  could  not  view 
the  gathering  of  such  a  storm  without  feeling  the  probability 
of  its  bursting  on  their  own  shores.  As  early  as  the  spring  of 
1587,  Elizabeth  sent  Sir  Francis  Drake  to  cruise  off  the  Tagus. 
Drake  sailed  into  the  Bay  of  Cadiz  and  the  Lisbon  Roads,  and 
burned  much  shipping  and  military  stores,  causing  thereby  an 
important  delay  in  the  progress  of  the  Spanish  preparations. 
Drake  called  this  "  Singeing  the  King  of  Spain's  beard."  Eliz- 
abeth also  increased  her  succors  of  troops  to  the  Netherlanders, 
to  prevent  the  Prince  of  Parma  from  overwhelming  them,  and 
from  thence  being  at  full  leisure  to  employ  his  army  against 
her  dominions. 

Each  party  at  this  time  thought  it  politic  to  try  to  amuse  its 
adversary  by  pretending  to  treat  for  peace,  and  negotiations  were 
opened  at  Ostend  in  the  beginning  of  1588,  which  were  prolonged 
during  the  first  six  months  of  that  year.  Nothing  real  was 
effected,  and  probably  nothing  real  had  been  intended  to  be 
effected,  by  them.  But,  in  the  meantime,  each  party  had  been 
engaged  in  important  communications  with  the  chief  powers 
in  France,  in  which  Elizabeth  seemed  at  first  to  have  secured 
a  great  advantage,  but  in  which  Philip  ultimately  prevailed. 
"Henry  III.  of  France  was  alarmed  at  the  negotiations  that 
were  going  on  at  Ostend ;  and  he  especially  dreaded  any  accom- 
modation between  Spain  and  England,  in  consequence  of  which 
Philip  II.  might  be  enabled  to  subdue  the  United  Provinces 
and  make  himself  master  of  France.  In  order,  therefore,  to 
dissuade  Elizabeth  from  any  arrangement,  he  offered  to  support 
her,  in  case  she  were  attacked  by  the  Spaniards,  with  twice  the 
number  of  troops  which  he  was  bound  by  the  treaty  of  1574 
to  send  to  her  assistance.  He  had  a  long  conference  with  her 
ambassador,  Stafford,  upon  this  subject,  and  told  him  that  the 
pope  and  the  Catholic  king  had  entered  into  a  league  against 
the  queen,  his  mistress,  and  had  invited  himself  and  the  Vene- 
tians to  join  them,  but  they  had  refused  to  do  so.  *  If  the 
Queen  of  England,'  he  added,  *  concludes  a  peace  with  the  Cath- 
olic king,  that  peace  will  not  last  three  months,  because  the 
Catholic  king  will  aid  the  League  with  all  his  forces  to  over- 
throw her,  and  you  may  imagine  what  fate  is  reserved  for  your 
mistress  after  that.'  On  the  other  hand,  in  order  most  effectu- 
ally to  frustrate  this  negotiation,  he  proposed  to  Philip  II.  to 
form  a  still  closer  union  between  the  two  crowns  of  France  and 
Spain;  and,  at  the  same  time,  he  secretly  despatched  a  confi- 
dential envoy  to  Constantinople  to  warn  the  Sultan  that,  if  he 


238  DEFEAT  OF 

did  not  again  declare  war  against  the  Catholic  king,  that  mon- 
arch, who  already  possessed  the  Netherlands,  Portugal,  Spain, 
the  Indies,  and  nearly  all  Italy,  would  soon  make  himself  mas- 
ter of  England,  and  would  then  turn  the  forces  of  all  Europe 
against  the  Turk's."  * 

But  Philip  had  an  ally  in  France  who  was  far  more  powerful 
than  the  French  king.  This  was  the  Duke  of  Guise,  the  chief  of 
the  League,  and  the  idol  of  the  fanatic  partisans  of  the  Romish 
faith.  Philip  prevailed  on  Guise  openly  to  take  up  arms  against 
Henry  III.  (who  was  reviled  by  the  Leaguers  as  a  traitor  to  the 
true  Churcn  and  a  secret  friend  to  the  Huguenots),  and  thus 
prevent  the  French  king  from  interfering  in  favor  of  Queen 
Elizabeth.  "With  this  object,  the  commander,  Juan  Iniguez 
Moreo,  was  despatched  by  him  in  the  early  part  of  April  to  the 
Duke  of  Guise  at  Soissons.  He  met  with  complete  success. 
He  offered  the  Duke  of  Guise,  as  soon  as  he  took  the  field 
against  Henry  III.,  three  hundred  thousand  crowns,  six  thousand 
infantry,  and  twelve  hundred  pikemen,  on  behalf  of  the  king 
his  master,  who  would,  in  addition,  withdraw  his  ambassador 
from  the  court  of  France,  and  accredit  an  envoy  to  the  Catholic 
party.  A  treaty  was  concluded  on  these  conditions,  and  the 
Duke  of  Guise  entered  Paris,  where  he  was  expected  by  the 
Leaguers,  and  whence  he  expelled  Henry  III.  on  the  12th  of 
May  by  the  insurrection  of  the  barricades.  A  fortnight  after 
this  insurrection,  which  reduced  Henry  HI.  to  impotence,  and, 
to  use  the  language  of  the  Prince  of  Parma,  did  not  even  '  per- 
mit him  to  assist  the  Queen  of  England  with  his  tears,  as  he 
needed  them  all  to  weep  over  his  own  misfortunes,'  the  Spanish 
fleet  left  the  Tagus  and  sailed  towards  the  British  isles."  f 

Meanwhile  in  England,  from  the  sovereign  on  the  throne  to 
the  peasant  in  the  cottage,  all  hearts  and  hands  made  ready  to 
meet  the  imminent  deadly  peril.  Circular  letters  from  the  queen 
were  sent  round  to  the  lord-lieutenants  of  the  several  counties  re- 
quiring them  "  to  call  together  the  best  sort  of  gentlemerf  under 
their  lieutenancy,  and  to  declare  unto  them  these  great  prepara- 
tions and  arrogant  threatenings,  now  burst  forth  in  action  upon 
the  seas,  wherein  every  man's  particular  state,  in  the  highest 
degree,  could  be  touched  in  respect  of  country,  liberty,  wives, 
children,  lands,  lives,  and  (which  was  specially  to  be  regarded) 
the  profession  of  the  true  and  sincere  religion  of  Christ;  and 
to  lay  before  them  the  infinite  and  unspeakable  miseries  that 

*  Mignet's  "  History  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,"  vol.  ii.  f  Ibid. 


THE  SPANISH  ARMADA.  239 

would  fall  out  u})ou  any  such  change,  which  miseries  were  evi- 
dently seen  by  the  fruits  of  that  hard  and  cruel  government 
holden  in  countries  not  far  distant.  We  do  look,"  said  the 
queen,  "that  the  most  part  of  them  should  have,  upon  this 
instant  extraordinary  occasion,  a  larger  proportion  of  furniture, 
both  for  horsemen  and  footmen,  but  especially  horsemen,  than 
hath  been  certified ;  thereby  to  be  in  their  best  strength  against 
any  attempt,  or  to  be  employed  about  our  own  person,  or  other- 
wise. Hereunto  as  we  doubt  not  but  by  your  good  endeavors 
they  will  be  the  rather  conformable,  so  also  we  assure  ourselves 
that  Almighty  God  will  so  bless  these  their  loyal  hearts  borne 
towards  us,  their  loving  sovereign  and  their  natural  country, 
that  all  the  attempts  of  any  enemy  whatsoever  shall  be  made 
void  and  frustrate,  to  their  confusion,  your  comfort,  and  to 
God's  high  glory."* 

Letters  of  a  similar  kind  were  also  sent  by  the  council  to  each 
of  the  nobility  and  to  the  great  cities.  The  primate  called  on 
the  clergy  for  their  contributions ;  and  by  every  class  of  the 
community  the  appeal  was  responded  to  with  liberal  zeal,  that 
offered  more  even  than  the  queen  required.  The  boasting  threats 
of  the  Spaniards  had  roused  the  spirit  of  the  nation ;  and  the 
whole  people  "  were  thoroughly  irritated  to  stir  up  their  whole 
forces  for  their  defence  against  such  prognosticated  conquests ; 
so  that,  in  a  very  short  time,  all  the  whole  realm,  and  every 
corner,  were  furnished  with  armed  men,  on  horseback  and  on 
foot;  and  these  continually  trained,  exercised,  and  put  into 
bands,  in  warlike  manner,  as  in  no  age  ever  was  before  in  this 
realm.  There  was  no  sparing  of  money  to  provide  horse,  ar- 
mor, weapons,  powder,  and  all  necessaries;  no,  nor  want  of 
provision  of  pioneers,  carriages,  and  victuals,  in  every  county 
of  the  realm,  without  exception,  to  attend  upon  the  armies. 
And  to  this  general  furniture  every  man  voluntarily  offered,  very 
many  their  services  personally  without  wages,  others  money  for 
armour  and  weapons,  and  to  wage  soldiers :  a  matter  strange, 
and  never  the  like  heard  of  in  this  realm  or  elsewhere.  And 
this  general  reason  moved  all  men  to  large  contributions,  that 
when  a  conquest  was  to  be  withstood  wherein  all  should  be  lost, 
it  was  no  time  to  spare  a  portion."  -j- 

Our  lion-hearted  queen  showed  herself  worthy  of  such  a  peo- 

*  Strype,  cited  in  Southey's  "  Naval  History." 

f  Copy  of  contemporary  letter  in  the  Harleian  Collection,  quoted  by 
Southey. 


240  DEFEAT  OF 

pie.  A  camp  was  formed  at  Tilbury ;  and  there  Elizabeth  rode 
through  the  ranks,  encouraging  her  captains  and  her  soldiers 
by  her  presence  and  her  words.  One  of  the  speeches  which 
she  addressed  to  them  during  this  crisis  has  been  preserved ; 
and,  though  often  quoted,  it  must  not  be  omitted  here. 

"  My  loving  people,"  she  said,  "  we  have  been  persuaded  by 
some  that  are  careful  of  our  safety  to  take  heed  how  we  com- 
mit ourselves  to  armed  multitudes  for  fear  of  treachery ;  but  I  ' 
assure  you  I  do  not  desire  to  live  to  distrust  my  faithful  and 
loving  people.  Let  tyrants  fear  !  I  have  always  so  behaved 
myself,  that,  under  God,  I  have  placed  my  chiefest  strength  and 
safeguard  in  the  loyal  hearts  and  good-will  of  my  subjects ; 
and,  therefore,  I  am  come  amongst  you,  as  you  see,  at  this  time, 
not  for  my  recreation  or  disport,  but  being  resolved,  in  the 
midst  and  heat  of  the  battle,  to  live  or  die  amongst  you  all,  to 
lay  down  for  my  God,  for  my  kingdom,  and  for  my  people,  my 
honor  and  my  blood,  even  in  the  dust.  I  know  I  have  the  body 
but  of  a  weak  and  feeble  woman,  but  I  have  the  heart  and 
stomach  of  a  king,  and  of  a  King  of  England  too  ;  and  think 
it  foul  scorn  that  Parma,  or  Spain,  or  any  prince  of  Europe, 
should  dare  to  invade  the  borders  of  my  realm  ;  to  which,  rath- 
er than  any  dishonor  shall  grow  by  me,  I  myself  will  take  up 
arms,  I  myself  will  be  your  general,  judge,  and  rewarder  of 
every  one  of  your  virtues  in  the  field.  I  know  already  for  your 
forwardness  you  have  deserved  rewards  and  crowns ;  and  we 
do  assure  you,  on  the  word  of  a  prince,  they  shall  be  duly  paid 
you.  In  the  meantime,  my  lieutenant-general  shall  be  in  my 
stead,  than  whom  never  prince  commanded  a  more  noble  or 
worthy  subject,  not  doubting  but  by  your  obedience  to  my 
general,  by  your  concord  in  the  camp,  and  your  valor  in  the 
field,  we  shall  shortly  have  a  famous  victory  over  those  enemies 
of  my  God,  of  my  kingdom,  and  of  my  people." 

We  have  minute  proofs  of  the  skill  with  which  the  govern- 
ment of  Elizabeth  made  its  preparations ;  for  the  documents 
still  exist  which  were  drawn  up  at  that  time  by  the  ministers 
and  military  men  who  were  consulted  by  Elizabeth  respecting 
the  defence  of  the  country.*  Among  those  summoned  to  the 
advice  of  their  queen  at  this  crisis  were  Sir  Walter  Raleigh, 
Lord  Grey,  Sir  Francis  Knolles,  Sir  Thomas  Leighton,  Sir  John 
Norris,  Sir  Richard  Grenville,  Sir  Richard  Bingham,  and  Sir 
Roger  Williams  ;   and  the  biographer  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh 

♦  See  note  in  Tytler^s  "  Life  of  Raleigh,"  p.  71. 


THE  SPANISH  ARMADA.  241 

observes  that  "  These  councillors  were  chosen  by  the  queen,  as 
being  not  only  men  bred  to  arms,  and  some  of  them,  as  Grey, 
Norris,  Bingham,  and  Grenville,  of  high  military  talents,  but 
of  grave  experience  in  affairs  of  state,  and  in  the  civil  govern- 
ment of  provinces — qualities  by  no  means  unimportant,  when 
the  debate  referred  not  merely  to  the  leading  of  an  array  or 
the  plan  of  a  campaign,  but  to  the  organization  of  a  militia, 
and  the  communication  with  the  magistrates  for  arming  the 
peasantry,  and  encouraging  them  to  a  resolute  and  simultaneous 
resistance.  From  some  private  papers  of  Lord  Burleigh,  it  ap- 
pears that  Sir  Walter  took  a  principal  share  in  these  delibera- 
tions ;  and  the  abstract  of  their  proceedings,  a  document  still 
preserved,  is  supposed  to  have  been  drawn  up  by  him.  They 
first  prepared  a  list  of  places  where  it  was  likely  the  Spanish 
army  might  attempt  a  descent,  as  well  as  of  those  which  lay 
most  exposed  to  the  force  under  the  Duke  of  Parma.  They 
next  considered  the  speediest  and  most  effectual  means  of  de- 
fence, whether  by  fortification  or  the  muster  of  a  military  ar- 
ray;  and,  lastly,  deliberated  on  the  course  to  be  taken  for 
fighting  the  enemy  if  he  should  land." 

Some  of  Elizabeth's  advisers  recommended  that  the  whole 
care  and  resources  of  the  government  should  be  devoted  to  the 
equipment  of  the  armies,  and  that  the  enemy,  when  he  at- 
tempted to  land,  should  be  w^elcomed  with  a  battle  on  the  shore. 
But  the  wiser  counsels  of  Raleigh  and  others  prevailed,  who 
urged  the  importance  of  fitting  out  a  fieet,  that  should  encoun- 
ter the  Spaniards  at  sea,  and,  if  possible,  prevent  them  from 
approaching  the  land  at  all.  In  Raleigh's  great  work  on  the 
"  History  of  the  World,"  he  takes  occasion,  when  discussing 
some  of  the  events  of  the  first  Punic  war,  to  give  his  reason- 
ings on  the  proper  policy  of  England  when  menaced  with  in- 
vasion. Without  doubt,  we  have  there  the  substance  of  the 
advice  which  he  gave  to  Elizabeth's  council ;  and  the  remarks 
of  such  a  man,  on  such  a  subject,  have  a  general  and  enduring 
interest,  beyond  the  immediate  peril  which  called  them  forth. 
Raleigh  says  :*  "  Surely  I  hold  that  the  best  way  is  to  keep 
our  enemies  from  treading  upon  our  ground:  wherein  if  we 
fail,  then  must  we  seek  to  make  him  wish  that  he  had  stayed 
at  his  own  home.  In  such  a  case  if  it  should  happen,  our  judg- 
ments are  to  weigh  many  particular  circumstances,  that  belongs 
not  unto  this  discourse.     But  making  the  question  general,  the 

*  "  Historic  of  the  World,"  pp.  799-801. 


242  DEFEAT  OF 

positive,  Whether  England,  without  the  help  of  her  fleet,  he  able 
to  debar  an  enemy  from  landing  ;  I  hold  that  it  is  unable  so  to 
do ;  and  therefore  I  think  it  most  dangerous  to  make  the  ad- 
venture. For  the  encouragement  of  a  first  victory  to  an  enemy, 
and  the  discouragement  of  being  beaten,  to  the  invaded,  may 
draw  after  it  a  most  perilous  consequence. 

"  Great  difference  I  know  there  is,  and  a  diverse  considera- 
tion to  be  had,  between  such  a  country  as  France  is,  strength- 
ened with  many  fortified  places,  and  this  of  ours,  where  our 
ramparts  are  but  the  bodies  of  men.  But  I  say  that  an  army 
to  be  transported  over  sea,  and  to  be  landed  again  in  an  ene- 
my's country,  and  the  place  left  to  the  choice  of  the  invader, 
cannot  be  resisted  on  the  coast  of  England,  without  a  fleet  to 
impeach  it ;  no,  nor  on  the  coast  of  France,  or  any  other  coun- 
try; except  every  creek,  port,  or  sandy  bay  had  a  powerful 
army  in  each  of  them,  to  make  opposition.  For  let  the  suppo- 
sition be  granted  that  Kent  is  able  to  furnish  twelve  thousand 
foot,  and  that  those  twelve  thousand  be  layed  in  the  three 
best  landing-places  within  that  county,  to  wit,  three  thousand 
at  Margat,  three  thousand  at  the  Nesse,  and  six  thousand  at 
Foulkstone,  that  is,  somewhat  equally  distant  from  them  both ; 
as  also  that  two  of  these  troops  (unless  some  other  order  be 
thought  more  fit)  be  directed  to  strengthen  the  third,  when 
they  shall  see  the  enemies'  fleet  to  head  towards  it :  I  say,  that 
notwithstanding  this  provision,  if  the  enemy,  setting  sail  from 
the  Isle  of  Wight  in  the  first  watch  of  the  night,  and  towing 
their  long  boats  at  their  sterns,  shall  arrive  by  dawn  of  day  at 
the  Nesse,  and  thrust  their  army  on  shore  there,  it  will  be  hard 
for  those  three  thousand  that  are  at  Margat  (twenty-and-four 
long  miles  from  thence)  to  come  time  enough  to  reinforce  their 
fellows  at  the  Nesse.  Nay,  how  shall  they  at  Foulkstone  be 
able  to  do  it,  who  are  nearer  by  more  than  half  the  way  ?  see- 
ing that  the  enemy,  at  his  first  arrival,  will  either  make  his  en- 
trance by  force,  with  three  or  four  shot  of  great  artillery,  and 
quickly  put  the  first  three  thousand  that  are  entrenched  at  the 
Nesse  to  run,  or  else  give  them  so  much  to  do  that  they  shall 
be  glad  to  send  for  help  to  Foulkstone,  and  perhaps  to  Margat, 
whereby  those  places  will  be  left  bare.  Now  let  us  suppose 
that  all  the  twelve  thousand  Kentish  soldiers  arrive  at  the 
Nesse,  ere  the  enemy  can  be  ready  to  disembark  his  army,  so 
that  he  will  find  it  unsafe  to-  land  in  the  face  of  so  many  pre- 
pared to  withstand  him,  yet  must  we  believe  that  he  will  play 
the  best  of  his  own  game  (having  liberty  to  go  which  way  he 


THE  SPANISH  ARMADA.  243 

list),  and,  under  covert  of  the  night,  set  sail  towards  the  east, 
where  what  shall  hinder  him  to  take  ground  either  at  Margat, 
the  Downes,  or  elsewhere,  before  they,  at  the  Nesse,  can  be  well 
aware  of  his  departure  ?  Certainly  there  is  nothing  more  easy 
than  to  do  it.  Yea,  the  like  may  be  said  of  Weymouth,  Pur- 
beck,  Poole,  and  of  all  landing-places  on  the  southwest.  For 
there  is  no  man  ignorant  that  ships,  without  putting  themselves 
out  of  breath,  will  easily  outrun  the  souldiers  that  coast  them. 
*  Les  armees  ne  volent  point  en  poste ' — '  Armies  neither  flye,  nor 
run  post ' — saith  a  marshal  of  France.  And  I  know  it  to  be  true, 
that  a  fleet  of  ships  may  be  seen  at  sunset,  and  after  it  at  the 
Lizard,  yet  by  the  next  morning  they  may  recover  Portland, 
whereas  an  army  of  foot  shall  not  be  able  to  march  it  in  six 
dayes.  Again,  when  those  troops  lodged  on  the  sea-shores 
shall  be  forced  to  run  from  place  to  place  in  vain,  after  a  fleet 
of  ships,  they  will  at  length  sit  down  in  the  midway,  and  leave 
all  at  adventure.  But  say  it  were  otherwise,  that  the  invading 
enemy  will  offer  to  land  in  some  such  place,  where  there  shall 
be  an  army  of  ours  ready  to  receive  him ;  yet  it  cannot  be 
doubted,  but  that  when  the  choice  of  all  our  trained  bands,  and 
the  choice  of  our  commanders  and  captains,  shall  be  drawn  to- 
gether (as  they  were  at  Tilbury  in  the  year  1588)  to  attend  the 
person  of  the  prince,  and  for  the  defence  of  the  city  of  Lon- 
don, they  that  remain  to  guard  the  coast  can  be  of  no  such 
force  as  to  encounter  an  army  like  unto  that  wherewith  it  was 
intended  that  the  Prince  of  Parma  should  have  landed  in  Eng- 
land. , 

"  For  end  of  this  digression,  T  hope  that  this  question  shall 
never  come  to  trial ;  his  majestie's  many  moveable  forts  will 
forbid  the  experience.  And  although  the  English  will  no  less 
disdain  that  any  nation  under  heaven  can  do,  to  be  beaten,  upon 
their  own  ground,  or  elsewhere,  by  a  foreign  enemy ;  yet  to 
entertain  those  that  shall  assail  us  with  their  own  beef  in  their 
bellies,  and  before  they  eat  of  our  Kentish  capons,  I  take  it  to 
be  the  wisest  way ;  to  do  which  his  majestic,  after  God,  will 
employ  his  good  ships  on  the  sea,  and  not  trust  in  any  intrench- 
ment  upon  the  shore." 

The  introduction  of  steam  as  a  propelling  power  at  sea  has 
added  tenfold  weight  to  these  arguments  of  Raleigh.  On  the 
other  hand,  a  well-constructed  system  of  railways,  especially  of 
coast-lines,  aided  by  the  operation  of  the  electric  telegraph, 
would  give  facilities  for  concentrating  a  defensive  a;rmy  to  op- 
pose an  enemy  on  landing,  and  for  moving  troops  from  place 


244  DEFEAT  OF 

to  place  in  observation  of  the  movements  of  the  hostile  fleet, 
such  as  would  have  astonished  Sir  Walter  even  more  than  the 
sight  of  vessels  passing  rapidly  to  and  fro  without  the  aid  of 
wind  or  tide.  The  observation  of  the  French  marshal,  whom 
he  quotes,  is  now  no  longer  correct.  Armies  can  be  made  to 
pass  from  place  to  place  almost  with  the  speed  of  wings,  and 
far  more  rapidly  than  any  post-travelling  that  was  known  in  the 
Elizabethan  or  any  other  age.  Still,  the  presence  of  a  suflficient 
armed  force  at  the  right  spot,  at  the  right  time,  can  never  be 
made  a  matter  of  certainty ;  and  even  after  the  changes  that 
have  taken  place,  no  one  can  doubt  but  that  the  policy  of  Ra- 
leigh is  that  which  England  should  ever  seek  to  follow  in  defen- 
sive war.  At  the  time  of  the  Armada,  that  policy  certainly 
saved  the  country,  if  not  from  conquest,  at  least  from  deplora- 
ble calamities.  If  indeed  the  enemy  had  landed,  we  may  be 
sure  that  he  would  have  been  heroically  opposed.  But  history 
shows  us  so  many  examples  of  the  superiority  of  veteran  troops 
over  new  levies,  however  numerous  and  brave,  that  without 
disparaging  our  countrymen's  soldierly  merits,  we  may  well  be 
thankful  that  no  trial  of  them  was  then  made  on  English  land. 
Especially  must  we  feel  this  when  we  contrast  the  high  mili- 
tary genius  of  the  Prince  of  Parma,  who  would  have  headed 
the  Spaniards,  with  the  imbecility  of  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  to 
whom  the  deplorable  spirit  of  favoritism,  which  formed  the 
greatest  blemish  in  Elizabeth's  character,  had  then  committed 
the  chief  command  of  the  English  armies. 

The  ships  of  the  royal  navy  at  this  time  amounted  to  no  more 
than  thirty-six ;  but  the  most  serviceable  merchant  vessels  were 
collected  from  all  the  ports  of  the  country  ;  and  the  citizens  of 
London,  Bristol,  and  the  other  great  seats  of  commerce  showed 
as  liberal  a  zeal  in  equipping  and  manning  vessels  as  the  nobil- 
ity and  gentry  displayed  in  mustering  forces  by  land.  The  sea- 
faring population  of  the  coast,  of  every  rank  and  station,  was 
animated  by  the  same  ready  spirit ;  and  the  whole  number  of 
seamen  who  came  forward  to  man  the  English  fleet  was  17,472. 
The  number  of  the  ships  that  were  collected  was  191  ;  and  the 
total  amount  of  their  tonnage  31,985.  There  was  one  ship  in  the 
fleet  (the  Triumph)  of  1100  tons,  one  of  1000,  one  of  900,  two  of 
800  each,  three  of  600,  five  of  600,  five  of  400,  six  of  300,  six  of 
260,  twenty  of  200,  and  the  residue  of  inferior  burden.  Appli- 
cation was  made  to  the  Dutch  for  assistance ;  and,  as  Stowe  ex- 
presses it,  "  The  Hollanders  came  roundly  in,  with  threescore 
sail,  brave  ships  of  war,  fierce  and  full  of  spleen,  not  so  much 


THE  SPANISH  AHMAD  A.  245 

for  England's  aid,  as  in  just  occasion  for  their  own  defence, 
these  men  foreseeing  the  greatness  of  the  danger  that  might 
ensue  if  the  Spaniards  should  chance  to  win  the  day  and  get 
the  mastery  over  them ;  in  due  regard  whereof  their  manly 
courage  was  inferior  to  none." 

We  have  more  minute  information  of  the  numbers  and  equip- 
ment of  the  hostile  forces  than  we  have  of  our  own.  In  the  first 
volume  of  Hakluyt's  "  Voyages,"  dedicated  to  Lord  Effingham, 
who  commanded  against  the  Armada,  there  is  given  (from  the  con- 
temporary foreign  writer  Meteran)  a  more  complete  and  detailed 
catalogue  than  has  perhaps  ever  appeared  of  a  similar  armament. 

"  A  very  large  and  particular  description  of  this  navie  was 
put  in  print  and  published  by  the  Spaniards ;  wherein  was  set 
downe  the  number,  names,  and  burthens  of  the  shippes,  the 
number  of  mariners  and  souldiers  throughout  the  whole  fleete ; 
likewise  the  quantitie  of  their  ordinance,  of  their  armour,  of 
bullets,  of  match,  of  gun-poulder,  of  victuals,  and  of  all  their 
navall  furniture,  was  in  the  saide  description  particularized. 
Unto  all  these  were  added  the  names  of  the  governours,  cap- 
taines,  noblemen,  and  gentlemen  voluntaries,  of  whom  there  was 
so  great  a  multitude,  that  scarce  was  there  any  family  of  ac- 
compt,  or  any  one  principall  man  throughout  all  Spaine,  that 
had  not  a  brother,  sonne,  or  kinsman  in  that  fleete ;  who  all  of 
them  were  in  good  hope  to  purchase  unto  themselves  in  that 
navie  (as  they  termed  it)  invincible,  endless  glory  and  renown, 
and  to  possess  themselves  of  great  seigniories  and  riches  in 
England,  and  in  the  Low  Countreys.  But  because  the  said  de- 
scription was  translated  and  published  out  of  Spanish  into  divers 
other  languages,  we  will  here  only  make  an  abridgement  or  brief 
rehearsal  thereof. 

"  Portugal  furnished  and  set  foorth  under  the  conduct  of  the 
Duke  of  Medina  Sidonia,  generall  of  the  fleete,  ten  galeons,  two 
zabraes,  1300  mariners,  3300  souldiers,  300  great  pieces,  with 
all  requisite  furniture. 

"  Biscay,  under  the  conduct  of  John  Martines  de  Ricalde,  ad- 
miral of  the  whole  fleete,  set  forth  tenne  galeons,  four  pataches, 
700  mariners,  2000  souldiers,  260  great  pieces,  etc. 

*'  Guipusco,  under  the  conduct  of  Michael  de  Orquendo,  tenne 
galeons,  four  pataches,  700  mariners,  2000  souldiers,  310  great 
pieces. 

"  Italy  with  the  Levant  islands,  under  Martine  de  Vertendona, 
ten  galeons,  800  mariners,  2000  souldiers,  310  great  pieces,  &c. 

"  Castile,  under  Diego  Flores  de  Valdez,  fourteen  galeons, 


246  DEFEAT  OF 

two  pataches,  1700  mariners,  2400  souldiers,  and  380  great 
pieces,  &c. 

"Andaluzia,  under  the  conduct  of  Petro  de  Valdez,  ten 
galeons,  one  patache,  800  mariners,  2400  souldiers,  280  great 
pieces,  &c. 

"  Item,  under  the  conduct  of  John  Lopez  de  Medina,  twenty- 
three  great  Flemish  hulkes,  with  700  mariners,  3200  souldiers, 
and  400  great  pieces. 

"  Item,  under  Hugo  de  Mongada,  foure  galliasses,  containing 
1200  gally-slaves,  460  mariners,  870  souldiers,  200  great  pieces, 
&c. 

"  Item,  under  Diego  de  Mandrana,  foure  gallies  of  Portugall, 
with  888  gally-slaves,  360  mariners,  twenty  great  pieces,  and 
other  requisite  furniture. 

"  Item,  under  Anthonie  de  Mendoza,  twenty-two  pataches  and 
zabraes,  with  574  mariners,  488  souldiers,  and  193  great  pieces. 

"  Besides  the  ships  aforementioned,  there  were  twenty  cara- 
vels rowed  with  oares,  being  appointed  to  perform  necessary 
services  under  the  greater  ships,  insomuch  that  all  the  ships  ap- 
pertayning  to  this  navie  amounted  unto  the  summe  of  1 50,  eche 
one  being  sufficiently  provided  of  furniture  and  victuals. 

"  The  number  of  mariners  in  the  saide  fleete  were  above  8000, 
of  slaves  2088,  of  souldiers  20,000  (besides  noblemen  and  gen- 
tlemen voluntaries),  of  great  cast  pieces  2600.  The  aforesaid 
ships  were  of  an  huge  and  incredible  capacitie  and  receipt :  for 
the  whole  fleete  was  large  enough  to  containe  the  burthen  of 
60,000  tunnes. 

"  The  galeons  were  64  in  number,  being  of  an  huge  bignesse, 
and  very  flately  built,  being  of  marvellous  force  also,  and  so 
high,  that  they  resembled  great  castles,  most  fit  to  defend  them- 
selves and  to  withstand  any  assault,  but  in  giving  any  other 
ships  the  encounter  farr  inferiour  unto  the  English  and  Dutch 
ships,  which  can  with  great  dexteritie  weild  and  turne  them- 
selves at  all  assayes.  The  upperworke  of  the  said  galeons  was 
of  thicknesse  and  strength  suflScient  to  bear  off  musket-shot. 
The  lower  worke  and  the  timbers  thereof  were  out  of  measure 
strong,  being  framed  of  plankes  and  ribs  foure  or  five  foote  in 
thicknesse,  insomuch  that  no  bullets  could  pierce  them,  but  such 
as  were  discharged  hard  at  hand  ;  which  afterward  prooved  true, 
for  a  great  number  of  bullets  were  found  to  sticke  fast  within 
the  massie  substance  of  those  thicke  plankes.  Great  and  well 
pitched  cables  were  twined  about  the  masts  of  their  shippes,  to 
strengthen  them  against  the  battery  of  shot. 


THE  SPANISH  ARMADA.  247 

"  The  galliasses  were  of  such  bignesse,  that  they  contained 
within  them  chambers,  chapels,  turrets,  pulpits,  and  other  com- 
modities of  great  houses.  The  galliasses  were  rowed  with  great 
oares,  there  being  in  eche  one  of  them  300  slaves  for  the  same 
purpose,  and  were  able  to  do  great  service  with  the  force  of  their 
ordinance.  All  these,  together  with  the  residue  aforenamed, 
were  furnished  and  beautified  with  trumpets,  streamers,  banners, 
warlike  ensignes,  and  other  such  like  ornaments. 

"Their  pieces  of  brazen  ordinance  were  1600,  and  of  yron 
1000. 

"The  bullets  thereto  belonging  were  120  thousand. 

"  Item  of  gun-poulder,  5600  quintals.  Of  matche,  1200  quin- 
tals. Of  muskets  and  kaleivers,  7000.  Of  haleberts  and  parti- 
sans, 10,000. 

"  Moreover  they  had  great  store  of  canons,  double-canons, 
culverings  and  field-pieces  for  land  services. 

"  Likewise  they  were  provided  of  all  instruments  necessary  on 
land  to  conveigh  and  transport  their  furniture  from  place  to 
place  ;  as  namely  of  carts,  wheeles,  wagons,  &c.  Also  they  had 
spades,  mattocks,  and  baskets,  to  set  pioners  to  worke.  They 
had  in  like  sort  great  store  of  mules  and  horses,  and  whatsoever 
else  was  requisite  for  a  land-armie.  They  were  so  well  stored 
of  biscuit,  that  for  the  space  of  halfe  a  yeere,  they  might  allow 
eche  person  in  the  whole  fleete  halfe  a  quintall  every  month ; 
whereof  the  whole  summe  amounteth  unto  an  hundreth  thou- 
sand quintals. 

"Likewise  of  wine  they  had  147  thousand  pipes,  sufficient 
also  for  halfe  a  yeeres  expedition.  Of  bacon,  6500  quintals.  Of 
cheese,  three  thousand  quintals.  Besides  fish,  rise,  beanes, 
pease,  oile,  vinegar,  &c. 

"  Moreover  they  had  12,000  pipes  of  fresh  water,  and  all  other 
necessary  provision,  as,  namely,  candles,  lanternes,  lampes,  sailes, 
hempe,  oxe-hides,  and  lead  to  stop  holes  that  should  be  made 
with  the  battery  of  gun-shot.  To  be  short,  they  brought  all 
things  expedient,  either  for  a  fleete  by  sea,  or  for  an  armie  by 
land. 

"  This  navie  (as  Diego  Pimentelli  afterward  confessed)  was 
esteemed  by  the  king  himselfe  to  containe  32,000  persons,  and 
to  cost  him  every  day  30  thousand  ducates. 

"There  were  in  the  said  navie  five  terzaes  of  Spaniards  (which 
terzaes  the  Frenchmen  call  regiments),  under  the  command  of 
five  governours,  termed  by  the  Spaniards  masters  of  the  field, 
and  amongst  the  rest  there  were  many  olde  and  expert  souldiers 


248  DEFEAT  OF 

chosen  out  of  the  garisons  of  Sicilie,  Naples,  and  Ter9era.  Their 
captaines  or  colonels  were  Diego  Pimentelli,  Don  Francisco  de 
Toledo,  Don  Alon9o  de  Lu9on,  Don  Nicolas  de  Isla,  Don 
Augustin  de  Mexia ;  who  had  each  of  them  thirty-two  compa- 
nies under  their  conduct.  Besides  the  which  companies,  there 
were  many  bands  also  of  Castilians  and  Portugals,  every  one  of 
which  had  their  peculiar  governours,  captains,  officers,  colours, 
and  weapons." 

While  this  huge  armada  was  making  ready  in  the  southern 
ports  of  the  Spanish  dominions,  the  Prince  of  Parma,  with  al- 
most incredible  toil  and  skill,  collected  a  squadron  of  war-ships 
at  Dunkirk,  and  his  flotilla  of  other  ships  and  of  flat-bottomed 
boats  for  the  transport  to  England  of  the  picked  troops,  which 
were  designed  to  be  the  main  instruments  in  subduing  England. 
Thousands  of  workmen  were  employed,  night  and  day,  in  the 
construction  of  these  vessels,  in  the  ports  of  Flanders  and  Bra- 
bant. One  hundred  of  the  kind  called  hendes,  built  at  Ant- 
werp, Bruges,  and  Ghent,  and  laden  with  provision  and  ammu- 
nition, together  with  sixty  flat-bottomed  boats,  each  capable  of 
carrying  thirty  horses,  were  brought,  by  means  of  canals  and 
fosses  dug  expressly  for  the  purpose,  to  Nieuport  and  Dunkirk. 
One  hundred  smaller  vessels  were  equipped  at  the  former  place, 
and  thirty -two  at  Dunkirk,  provided  with  twenty  thousand  empty 
barrels,  and  with  materials  for  making  pontoons,  for  stopping 
up  the  harbours,  and  raising  forts  and  entrenchments.  The 
army  which  these  vessels  were  designed  to  convey  to  England 
amounted  to  thirty  thousand  strong,  besides  a  body  of  four 
thousand  cavalry,  stationed  at  Courtroi,  composed  chiefly  of  the 
ablest  veterans  of  Europe ;  invigorated  by  rest  (the  siege  of 
Sluys  having  been  the  only  enterprise  in  which  they  were  em- 
ployed during  the  last  campaign)  and  excited  by  the  hopes  of 
plunder  and  the  expectation  of  certain  conquest.*  And  "to 
this  great  enterprise  and  imaginary  conquest,  divers  princes  and 
noblemen  came  from  divers  countries ;  out  of  Spain  came  the 
Duke  of  Pestrana,  who  was  said  to  be  the  son  of  Ruy  Gomez  de 
Silva,  but  was  held  to  be  the  king's  bastard  ;  the  Marquis  of 
Bourgou,  one  of  the  Archduke  Ferdinand's  sons,  by  Philippina 
Welserine  ;  Don  Vespasian  Gonzaga,  of  the  house  of  Mantua,  a 
great  soldier,  who  had  been  viceroy  in  Spain  ;  Giovanni  de  Med- 
ici, Bastard  of  Florence  ;  Amedo,  Bastard  of  Savoy,  with  many 
such  like,  besides  others  of  meaner  quality."! 

*  Davis's  "Holland,"  vol.  11.,  p.  219.  f  Grimstone,  cited  in  So«they. 


THE  iSPANISH  ARM/ DA.  249 

Philip  had  been  advised  by  the  deserter,  Sir  William  Stanley, 
not  to  attack  England  in  the  first  instance,  but  first  to  effect  a 
landing  and  secure  a  strong  position  in  Ireland ;  his  admiral, 
Santa  Cruz,  had  recommended  him  to  make  sure,  in  the  first  in- 
stance, of  some  large  harbor  on  the  coast  of  Holland  or  Zealand, 
where  the  Armada,  having  entered  the  Channel,  might  find  shel- 
ter in  case  of  storm,  and  whence  it  could  sail  without  difficulty 
for  England  ;  but  Philip  rejected  both  these  counsels,  and  di- 
rected that  England  itself  should  be  made  the  immediate  object 
of  attack ;  and  on  the  20th  of  May  the  Armada  left  the  Tagus, 
in  the  pomp  and  pride  of  supposed  invincibility,  and  amid  the 
shouts  of  thousands,  who  believed  that  England  was  already  con- 
quered. But  steering  to  the  northward,  and  before  it  was  clear 
of  the  coast  of  Spain,  the  Armada  was  assailed  by  a  violent 
storm,  and  driven  back  with  considerable  damage  to  the  ports 
of  Biscay  and  Galicia.  It  had,  however,  sustained  its  heaviest 
loss  before  it  left  the  Tagus,  in  the  death  of  the  veteran  admiral 
Santa  Cruz,  who  had  been  destined  to  guide  it  against  England. 

This  experienced  sailor,  notwithstanding  his  diligence  and 
success,  had  been  unable  to  keep  pace  with  the  impatient  ardor 
of  his  master.  Philip  II.  had  reproached  him  with  his  dilatori- 
ness,  and  had  said  with  ungrateful  harshness,  "You  make  an  ill 
return  for  all  my  kindness  to  you."  These  words  cut  the  vet- 
eran's heart,  and  proved  fatal  to  Santa  Cruz.  Overwhelmed  with 
fatigue  and  grief,  he  sickened  and  died.  Philip  II.  had  replaced 
him  by  Alonzo  Perez  de  Gusman,  Duke  of  Medina  Sidonia,  one 
of  the  most  powerful  of  the  Spanish  grandees,  but  wholly  un- 
qualified to  command  such  an  expedition.  He  had,  however,  as 
his  lieutenants,  two  seamen  of  proved  skill  and  bravery,  Juan  de 
Martinez  Recalde  of  Biscay,  and  Miguel  Orquendo  of  Guipuzcoa. 

The  report  of  the  storm  which  had  beaten  back  the  Armada 
reached  England  with  much  exaggeration,  and  it  was  supposed 
by  gome  of  the  queen's  counsellors  that  the  invasion  would  now 
be  deferred  to  another  year.  But  Lord  Howard  of  Effingham, 
the  lord  high-admiral  of  the  English  fleet,  judged  more  wisely 
that  the  danger  was  not  yet  passed,  and,  as  already  mentioned, 
had  the  moral  courage  to  refuse  to  dismantle  his  principal  ships, 
though  he  received  orders  to  that  effect.  But  it  was  not  How- 
ard's design  to  keep  the  English  fleet  in  costly  inaction,  and  to 
wait  patiently  in  our  own  harbors  till  the  Spaniards  had  re- 
cruited their  strength  and  sailed  forth  again  to  attack  us.  The 
English  seamen  of  that  age  (like  their  successors)  loved  to  strike 
better  than  to  parry,  though,  when  emergency  required,  they 


250  DEFEAT  OF 

could  be  patient  and  cautious  in  their  bravery.  It  was  resolved 
to  proceed  to  Spain  to  learn  the  enemy's  real  condition,  and  to 
deal  him  any  blow  for  which  there  might  be  opportunity.  In 
this  bold  policy  we  may  well  believe  him  to  have  been  eagerly 
seconded  by  those  who  commanded  under  him.  Howard  and 
Drake  sailed  accordingly  to  Corunna,  hoping  to  surprise  and  at- 
tack some  part  of  the  Armada  in  that  harbor ;  but  when  near 
the  coast  of  Spain,  the  north  wind,  which  had  blown  up  to  that 
time,  veered  suddenly  to  the  south ;  and  fearing  that  the  Span- 
iards might  put  to  sea  and  pass  him  unobserved,  Howard  re- 
turned to  the  entrance  of  the  Channel,  where  he  cruised  for 
some  time  on  the  lookout  for  the  enemy.  In  part  of  a  letter 
written  by  him  at  this  period,  he  speaks  of  the  difficulty  of 
guarding  so  large  a  breadth  of  sea — a  difficulty  that  ought  not 
to  be  forgotten  when  modern  schemes  of  defence  against  hostile 
fleets  from  the  south  are  discussed.  "  I  myself,"  he  wrote,  "do 
lie  in  the  midst  of  the  Channel,  with  the  greatest  force ;  Sir 
Francis  Drake  hath  twenty  ships  and  four  or  five  pinnaces, 
which  lie  towards  Ushant ;  and  Mr.  Hawkins,  with  as  many  more, 
lieth  towards  Scilly.  Thus  we  are  fain  to  do,  or  else  with  this 
wind  they  might  pass  us  by,  and  we  never  the  wiser.  The  Sleeve 
is  another  manner  of  thing  than  it  was  taken  for :  we  find  it  by 
experience  and  daily  observation  to  be  100  miles  over — a  large 
room  for  me  to  look  unto !"  But  after  some  time  further  re- 
ports that  the  Spaniards  were  inactive  in  their  harbor,  where  they 
were  suffering  severely  from  sickness,  caused  Howard  also  to 
relax  in  his  vigilance  ;  and  he  returned  to  Plymouth  with  the 
greater  part  of  his  fleet. 

On  the  12th  of  July,  the  Armada  having  completely  refitted, 
sailed  again  for  the  Channel,  and  reached  it  without  obstruction 
or  observation  by  the  English. 

The  design  of  the  Spaniards  was,  that  the  Armada  should  give 
them,  at  least  for  a  time,  the  command  of  the  sea,  and  that  it 
should  join  the  squadron  which  Parma  had  collected  off  Calais. 
Then,  escorted  by  an  overpowering  naval  force,  Parma  and  his 
army  were  to  embark  in  their  flotilla,  and  cross  the  sea  to  Eng- 
land, where  they  were  to  be  landed,  together  with  the  troops 
which  the  Armada  brought  from  the  ports  of  Spain.  The 
scheme  was  not  dissimilar  to  one  formed  against  England  a  lit- 
tle more  than  two  centuries  afterwards. 

As  Napoleon,  in  1805,  waited  with  his  army  and  flotilla  at 
Boulogne,  looking  for  Villeneuve  to  drive  away  the  English 
cruisers,  and  secure  him  a  passage  across  the  Channel,  so  Par- 


THE  SPAmSH  AHMAD  A.  251 

ma,  in  1588,  waited  for  Medina  Sidonia  to  drive  away  the  Dutch 
and  English  squadrons  that  watched  his  flotilla,  and  to  enable 
his  veterans  to  cross  the  sea  to  the  land  that  they  were  to  con- 
quer. Thanks  to  Providence,  in  each  case  England's  enemy- 
waited  in  vain ! 

Although  the  numbers  of  sail  which  the  queen's  government 
and  the  patriotic  zeal  of  volunteers  had  collected  for  the  defence 
of  England  exceeded  the  number  of  sail  in  the  Spanish  fleet,  the 
English  ships  were,  collectively,  far  inferior  in  size  to  their  ad- 
versaries ;  their  aggregate  tonnage  being  less  by  half  than  that 
of  the  enemy.  In  the  number  of  guns  and  weight  of  metal  the 
disproportion  was  still  greater.  The  English  admiral  was  also 
obliged  to  subdivide  his  force ;  and  Lord  Henry  Seymour,  with 
forty  of  the  best  Dutch  and  English  ships,  was  employed  in 
blockading  the  hostile  ports  in  Flanders,  and  in  preventing  the 
Prince  of  Parma  from  coming  out  of  Dunkirk. 

The  orders  of  King  Philip  to  the  Duke  of  Medina  Sidonia 
were  that  he  should,  on  entering  the  Channel,  keep  near  the 
French  coast,  and,  if  attacked  by  the  English  ships,  avoid  an 
action,  and  steer  on  to  Calais  roads,  where  the  Prince  of  Parma's 
squadron  was  to  join  him.  The  hope  of  surprising  and  destroy- 
ing the  English  fleet  in  Plymouth  led  the  Spanish  admiral  to 
deviate  from  these  orders,  and  to  stand  across  to  the  English 
shore ;  but,  on  finding  that  Lord  Howard  was  coming  out  to 
meet  him,  he  resumed  the  original  plan,  and  determined  to  bend 
his  way  steadily  towards  Calais  and  Dunkirk,  and  to  keep  merely 
on  the  defensive  against  such  squadrons  of  the  English  as  might 
come  up  with  him. 

It  was  on  Saturday,  the  20th  of  July,  that  Lord  Effingham 
came  in  sight  of  his  formidable  adversaries.  The  Armada  was 
drawn  up  in  form  of  a  crescent,  which  from  horn  to  horn  meas- 
ured some  seven  miles.  There  was  a  southwest  wind  ;  and  be- 
fore it  the  vast  vessels  sailed  slowly  on.  The  English  let  them 
pass  by  ;  and  then,  following  in  the  rear,  commenced  an  attack 
on  them.  A  running  fight  now  took  place,  in  which  some  of 
the  best  ships  of  the  Spaniards  were  captured ;  many  more  re- 
ceived heavy  damage ;  Avhile  the  English  vessels,  which  took 
care  not  to  close  with  their  huge  antagonists,  but  availed  them- 
selves of  their  superior  celerity  in  tacking  and  manoeuvring,  suf- 
fered little  comparative  loss.  Each  day  added  not  only  to  the 
spirit,  but  to  the  number  of  Effingham's  force.  Raleigh,  Ox- 
ford, Cumberland,  and  Sheffield  joined  him ;  and  "  the  gentle- 
men of  England  hired  ships  from  all  parts  at  their  own  charge, 


252  DEFEAT  OF 

and  with  one  accord  came  flocking  thither  as  to  a  set  field,  where 
glory  was  to  be  attained,  and  faithful  service  performed  unto 
their  prince  and  their  country." 

Raleigh  justly  praises  the  English  admiral  for  his  skilful  tac- 
tics. He  says :  *  "  Certainly,  he  that  will  happily  perform  a 
fight  at  sea  must  be  skilful  in  making  choice  of  vessels  to  fight 
in  ;  he  must  believe  that  there  is  more  belonging  to  a  good  man- 
of-war  upon  the  waters  than  great  daring ;  and  must  know  that 
there  is  a  great  deal  of  difference  between  fighting  loose  or  at 
large  and  grappling.  The  guns  of  a  slow  ship  pierce  as  well 
and  make  as  great  holes  as  those  in  a  swift.  To  clap  ships  to- 
gether, without  consideration,  belongs  rather  to  a  madman  than 
to  a  man  of  war;  for  by  such  an  ignorant  bravery  was  Peter 
Strossie  lost  at  the  Azores,  when  he  fought  against  the  Marquis 
of  Santa  Cruza.  In  like  sort  had  the  Lord  Charles  Howard,  Ad- 
miral of  England,  been  lost  in  the  year  1588,  if  he  had  not  been 
better  advised  than  a  great  many  malignant  fools  were,  that 
found  fault  with  his  demeanor.  The  Spaniards  had  an  army 
aboard  them,  and  he  had  none ;  they  had  more  ships  than  he 
had,  and  of  higher  building  and  charging ;  so  that,  had  he  en- 
tangled himself  with  those  great  and  powerful  vessels,  he  had 
greatly  endangered  this  kingdom  of  England.  For  twenty  men 
upon  the  defences  are  equal  to  a  hundred  that  board  and  enter ; 
whereas  then,  contrariwise,  the  Spaniards  had  a  hundred  for 
twenty  of  ours  to  defend  themselves  withall.  But  our  admiral 
knew  his  advantage,  and  held  it :  which,  had  he  not  done,  he 
had  not  been  worthy  to  have  held  his  head." 

The  Spanish  admiral  also  showed  great  judgment  and  firm- 
ness in  following  the  line  of  conduct  that  had  been  traced  out 
for  him;  and  on  the  27th  of  July  he  brought  his  fleet  unbroken, 
though  sorely  distressed,  to  anchor  in  Calais  roads.  But  the 
King  of  Spain  had  calculated  ill  the  number  and  activity  of  the 
English  and  Dutch  fleets ;  as  the  old  historian  expresses  it,  "  It 
seemeth  that  the  Duke  of  Parma  and  the  Spaniards  grounded 
upon  a  vain  and  presumptuous  expectation,  that  all  the  ships  of 
England  and  of  the  Low  Countreys  would  at  the  first  sight  of 
the  Spanish  and  Dunkerk  navie  have  betaken  themselves  to 
flight,  yeelding  them  sea-room,  and  endeavoring  only  to  defend 
themselves,  their  havens,  and  sea-coasts  from  invasion.  Where- 
fore their  intent  and  purpose  was,  that  the  Duke  of  Parma,  in 
his  small  and  flat-bottomed  ships  should,  as  it  were,  under  the 

*  "  Historie  of  tlie  World,"  p.  791. 


THE  SPANISH  ARMADA.  253 

shadow  and  wings  of  the  Spanish  fleet,  convey  over  all  his 
troupes,  armour,  and  warlike  provisions,  and  with  their  forces  so 
united,  should  invade  England ;  or,  while  the  English  fleet  were 
busied  in  fight  against  the  Spanish,  should  enter  upon  any 
part  of  the  coast  which  he  thought  to  be  most  convenient. 
Which  invasion  (as  the  captives  afterwards  confessed)  the 
Duke  of  Parma  thought  first  to  have  attempted  by  the  river  of 
Thames ;  upon  the  banks  whereof,  having  at  the  first  arrivall 
landed  twenty  or  thirty  thousand  of  his  principall  souldiers,  he 
supposed  that  he  might  easily  have  wonne  the  citie  of  London ; 
both  because  his  small  shippes  should  have  followed  and  assist- 
ed his  land-forces,  and  also  for  that  the  citie  itselfe  was  but 
meanely  fortified  and  easie  to  ouercorae,  by  reason  of  the  citi- 
zens' delicacie  and  discontinuance  from  the  warres,  who,  with 
continuall  and  constant  labour,  might  be  vanquished,  if  they 
yielded  not  at  the  first  assault."  * 

But  the  English  and  Dutch  found  ships  and  mariners  enough 
to  keep  the  Armada  itself  in  check,  and  at  the  same  time  to 
block  up  Parma's  flotilla.  The  greater  part  of  Seymour's 
squadron  left  its  cruising-ground  off  Dunkirk  to  join  the  Eng- 
lish admiral  off  Calais ;  but  the  Dutch  manned  about  five-and- 
thirty  sail  of  good  ships,  with  a  strong  force  of  soldiers  on 
board,  all  well  seasoned  to  the  sea-service,  and  with  these  they 
blockaded  the  Flemish  ports  that  were  in  Parma's  power.  Still 
it  was  resolved  by  the  Spanish  admiral  and  the  prince  to  en- 
deavor to  effect  a  junction,  which  the  English  seamen  were 
equally  resolute  to  prevent ;  and  bolder  measures  on  our  side 
now  became  necessary. 

The  Armada  lay  off  Calais,  with  its  largest  ships  ranged  out- 
side, "  like  strong  castles  fearing  no  assault ;  the  lesser  placed 
in  the  middle  ward."  The  English  admiral  could  not  attack 
them  in  their  position  without  great  disadvantage ;  but  on  the 
night  of  the  29th  he  sent  eight  fire-ships  among  them,  with  al- 
most equal  effect  to  that  of  the  fire-ships  which  the  Greeks  so 
often  employed  against  the  Turkish  fleets  in  their  late  war  of 
independence.  The  Spaniards  cut  their  cables  and  put  to  sea 
in  confusion.  One  of  the  largest  galeasses  ran  foul  of  another 
vessel  and  was  stranded.  The  rest  of  the  fleet  was  scattered 
about  on  the  Flemish  coast,  and  when  the  morning  broke  it 
was  with  difficulty  and  delay  that  they  obeyed  their  admiral's 
signal  to  range  themselves  round  him  near  Gravelines.     Now 

*Hakluyt's  "Voyages,"  vol.  i.,  p.  601. 


254  DEFEAT  OF 

was  the  golden  opportunity  for  the  English  to  assail  them,  and 
prevent  them  from  ever  letting  loose  Parma's  flotilla  against 
England ;  and  nobly  was  that  opportunity  used.  Drake  and 
Fenner  were  the  first  English  captains  who  attacked  the  un- 
wieldy leviathans  ;  then  came  Fenton,  Southwell,  Burton,  Cross, 
Raynor,  and  then  the  lord  admiral,  with  Lord  Thomas  Howard 
and  Lord  Sheffield.  The  Spaniards  only  thought  of  forming 
and  keeping  close  together,  and  were  driven  by  the  English 
past  Dunkirk,  and  far  away  from  the  Prince  of  Parma,  who,  in 
watching  their  defeat  from  the  coast,  must,  as  Drake  expressed 
it,  have  chafed  like  a  bear  robbed  of  her  whelps.  This  was  in- 
deed the  last  and  the  decisive  battle  between  the  two  fleets.  It 
is,  perhaps,  best  described  in  the  very  words  of  the  contempo- 
rary writer  as  we  may  read  them  in  Hakluyt.* 

"  Upon  the  29th  of  July  in  the  morning,  the  Spanish  fleet, 
after  the  forsayd  tumult,  having  arranged  themselues  againe 
into  order,  were,  within  sight  of  Greveling,  most  bravely  and 
furiously  encountered  by  the  English ;  where  they  once  again 
got  the  wind  of  the  Spaniards ;  who  suffered  themselues  to  be 
deprived  of  the  commodity  of  the  place  in  Caleis  road,  and 
of  the  advantage  of  the  wind  neer  unto  Dunkerk,  rather  than 
they  would  change  their  array  or  separate  their  forces  now  con- 
joyned  and  united  together,  standing  only  upon  their  defence. 

"  And  howbeit  there  were  many  excellent  and  warlike  ships 
in  the  English  fleet,  yet  scarce  were  there  22  or  23  among 
them  all,  which  matched  90  of  the  Spanish  ships  in  the  bigness, 
or  could  conveniently  assault  them.  Wherefore  the  English 
ships  using  their  prerogative  of  nimble  steerage,  whereby  they 
could  turn  and  wield  themselues  with  the  wind  which  way 
they  listed,  came  often  times  very  near  upon  the  Spaniards, 
and  charged  them  so  sore,  that  now  and  then  they  were  but  a 
pike's  length  asunder :  and  so  continually  giving  them  one 
broadside  after  another,  they  discharged  all  their  shot  both 
great  and  small  upon  them,  spending  one  whole  day  from 
morning  till  night  in  that  violent  kind  of  conflict,  untill  such 
time  as  powder  and  bullets  failed  them.  In  regard  of  which 
want  they  thought  it  convenient  not  to  pursue  the  Spaniards 
any  longer,  because  they  had  many  great  vantages  of  the  Eng- 
lish, namely,  for  the  extraordinary  bigness  of  their  ships,  and 
also  for  that  they  were  so  neerley  conjoyned,  and  kept  together 
in  so  good  array,  that  they  could  by  no  means  be  fought  with- 

*  Vol.  i.,  p.  602. 


THE  SPANISH  ARMADA.  255 

all  one  to  one.  The  English  thought,  therefore,  that  they  had 
right  well  acquitted  themselues,  in  chasing  the  Spaniards  first 
from  Caleis,  and  then  from  Dunkerk,  and  by  that  meanes  to 
have  hindered  them  from  joyning  with  the  Duke  of  Parma  his 
forces,  and  getting  the  wind  of  them,  to  have  driven  them 
from  their  own  coasts. 

"  The  Spaniards  that  day  sustained  great  loss  and  damage,  hav- 
ing many  of  their  shippes  shotthorow  and  thorow,  and  they  dis- 
charged likewise  great  store  of  ordinance  against  the  English; 
who,  indeed,  sustained  some  hindrance,  but  not  comparable  to  the 
Spaniard's  loss  :  for  they  lost  not  any  one  ship  or  person  of  ac- 
count, for  very  diligent  inquisition  being  made,  the  English 
men  all  that  time  wherein  the  Spanish  navy  sayled  upon  their 
seas,  are  not  found  to  haue  wanted  aboue  one  hundred  of  their 
people :  albeit  Sir  Francis  Drake's  ship  was  pierced  with  shot 
aboue  forty  times,  and  his  very  cabben  was  twice  shot  thorow, 
and  about  the  conclusion  of  the  fight,  the  bed  of  a  certaine 
gentleman  lying  weary  thereupon,  was  taken  quite  from  under 
him  with  the  force  of  a  bullet.  Likewise,  as  the  Earle  of 
Northumberland  and  Sir  Charles  Blunt  were  at  dinner  upon  a 
time,  the  bullet  of  a  demy-culverin  brake  thorow  the  middest 
of  their  cabben,  touched  their  feet,  and  strooke  downe  two  of 
the  standers  by,  with  many  such  accidents  befalling  the  English 
shippes,  which  it  were  tedious  to  rehearse." 

It  reflects  little  credit  on  the  English  government  that  the 
English  fleet  was  so  deficiently  supplied  with  ammunition  as  to 
be  unable  to  complete  the  destruction  of  the  invaders.  But 
enough  was  done  to  insure  it.  Many  of  the  largest  Spanish 
ships  were  sunk  or  captured  in  the  action  of  this  day.  And  at 
length  the  Spanish  admiral,  despairing  of  success,  fled  north- 
ward with  a  southerly  wind,  in  the  hope  of  rounding  Scotland, 
and  so  returning  to  Spain  without  a  further  encounter  with  the 
English  fleet.  Lord  Eflftngham  left  a  squadron  to  continue  the 
blockade  of  the  Prince  of  Parma's  armament;  but  that  wise 
general  soon  withdrew  his  troops  to  more  promising  fields  of 
action.  Meanwhile  the  lord-admiral  himself  and  Drake  chased 
the  vincible  Armada,  as  it  was  now  termed,  for  some  distance 
northward;  and  then,  when  it  seemed  to  bend  away  from  the 
Scotch  coast  towards  Norway,  it  was  thought  best,  in  the  words 
of  Drake,  "  to  leave  them  to  those  boisterous  and  uncouth  north- 
ern seas." 

The  sufferings  and  losses  which  the  unhappy  Spaniards  sus- 
tained in  their  flight  round  Scotland  and  Ireland  are  well  known. 


256  DEFEAT  OF 

Of  tlieir  whole  Armada  only  fifty-three  shattered  vessels  brought 
back  their  beaten  and  wasted  crews  to  the  Spanish  coast  which 
they  had  quitted  in  such  pageantry  and  pride. 

Some  passages  from  the  writings  of  those  who  took  part  in 
the  struggle  have  been  already  quoted;  and  the  most  spirited 
description  of  the  defeat  of  the  Armada  which  ever  was 
penned  may  perhaps  be  taken  from  the  letter  which  our  brave 
vice-admiral  Drake  wrote  in  answer  to  some  mandacious  stories 
by  which  the  Spaniards  strove  to  hide  their  shame.  Thus  does 
he  describe  the  scenes  in  which  he  played  so  important  a  part :  * 

*'  They  were  not  ashamed  to  publish,  in  sundry  languages  in 
print,  great  victories  in  words,  which  they  pretended  to  have 
obtained  against  this  realm,  and  spread  the  same  in  a  most  false 
sort  over  all  parts  of  France,  Italy,  and  elsewhere ;  when,  shortly 
afterwards,  it  was  happily  manifested  in  very  deed  to  all  nations, 
how  their  navy,  which  they  termed  invincible,  consisting  of  one 
hundred  and  forty  sail  of  ships,  not  only  of  their  own  kingdom, 
but  strengthened  with  the  greatest  argosies,  Portugal  carracks, 
Florentines,  and  large  hulks  of  other  countries,  were  by  thirty 
of  her  majesty's  own  ships  of  war,  and  a  few  of  our  own  mer- 
chants, by  the  wise,  valiant,  and  advantageous  conduct  of  the 
Lord  Charles  Howard,  high-admiral  of  England,  beaten  and 
shuflQed  together  even  from  the  Lizard  in  Cornwall,  first  to 
Portland,  when  they  shamefully  left  Don  Pedro  de  Valdez  with 
his  mighty  ship ;  from  Portland  to  Calais,  where  they  lost 
Hugh  de  Mon^ado,  with  the  galleys  of  which  he  was  captain  ; 
and  from  Calais  driven  with  squibs  from  their  anchors,  were 
chased  out  of  the  sight  of  England,  round  about  Scotland  and 
Ireland.  Where,  for  the  sympathy  of  their  religion,  hoping  to 
find  succour  and  assistance,  a  great  part  of  them  were  crushed 
against  the  rocks,  and  those  others  that  landed,  being  very 
many  in  number,  were,  notwithstanding,  broken,  slain,  and 
taken  ;  and  so  sent  from  village  to  village,  coupled  in  halters, 
to  be  shipped  into  England,  where  her  majesty,  of  her  princely 
and  invincible  disposition,  disdaining  to  put  them  to  death,  and 
scorning  either  to  retain  or  to  entertain  them,  they  were  all 
sent  back  again  to  their  countries,  to  witness  and  recount  the 
worthy  achievement  of  their  invincible  and  dreadful  navy.  Of 
which  the  number  of  soldiers,  the  fearful  burthen  of  their  ships, 
the   commanders'   names  of   every   squadron,  with  all  others, 

•  See  Strype,  and  the  notes  to  the  "Life  of  Drake,"  in  the  "Biographia 
Britannica." 


THJi  SPANISH  AHMaDA.  257 

their  magazines  of  provisions  were  put  in  print,  as  an  army 
and  navy  irresistible  and  disdaining  prevention  :  with  all  which 
their  great  and  terrible  ostentation,  they  did  not  in  all  their 
sailing  round  about  England  so  much  as  sink  or  take  one  ship, 
bark,  pinnace,  or  cockboat  of  ours,  or  even  burn  so  much  as 
one  sheep-cote  on  this  land." 

SYNOPSIS  OF  EVENTS  BETWEEN  THE  DEFEAT  OF  THE  SPANISH 
ARMADA,  A.D.  1688;   AND  THE  BATTLE  OF  BLENHEIM,  a.d.  1704. 

A.D.  1594.  Henry  IV.  of  France  conforms  to  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic Church,  and  ends  the  civil  wars  that  had  long  desolated 
France. 

1598.  Philip  II.  of  Spain  dies,  leaving  a  ruined  navy  and  an 
exhausted  kingdom. 

1603.  Death  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  The  Scotch  dynasty  of  the 
Stuarts  succeeds  to  the  throne  of  England. 

1619.  Commencement  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  in  Germany. 

1624  to  1642.  Cardinal  Richelieu  is  minister  of  France.  He 
breaks  the  power  of  the  nobility,  reduces  the  Huguenots  to 
complete  subjection,  and,  by  aiding  the  Protestant  German 
princes  in  the  latter  part  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  he  humil- 
iates France's  ancient  rival,  Austria. 

1630.  Gustavus  Adolphus,  King  of  Sweden,  marches  into 
Germany  to  the  assistance  of  the  Protestants,  who  were  nearly 
crushed  by  the  Austrian  armies.  He  gains  several  great  vic- 
tories, and,  after  his  death,  Sweden,  under  his  statesmen  and 
generals,  continues  to  take  a  leading  part  in  the  war. 

1640.  Portugal  throws  off  the  Spanish  yoke,  and  the  House 
of  Braganza  begins  to  reign. 

1642.  Commencement  of  the  civil  war  in  England  between 
Charles  I.  and  his  parliament. 

1648.  The  Thirty  Years'  War  in  Germany  ended  by  the 
treaty  of  Westphalia. 

1653.  Oliver  Cromwell  lord-protector  of  England. 

1660.  Restoration  of  the  Stuarts  to  the  English  throne. 

1661.  Louis  XIV.  takes  the  administration  of  affairs  in 
France  into  his  own  hands. 

1667  to  1668.  Louis  XIV.  makes  war  in  Spain,  and  conquers 
a  large  part  of  the  Spanish  Netherlands. 

1672.  Louis  makes  war  upon  Holland,  and  almost  overpowers 
it.  Charles  II.  of  England  is  his  pensioner,  and  England  helps 
the  French  in  their  attacks  upon  Holland  until  1674.  Heroic 
resistance  of  the  Dutch  under  the  Prince  of  Orange. 


258  DEFEAT  OF  THE  SFAJSTISH  ARMADA. 

1674.  Louis  conquers  Franche-Comte. 
1679.  Peace  of  Nimeguen. 

1681.  Louis  invades  and  occupies  Alsace. 

1682.  Accession  of  Peter  the  Great  to  the  throne  of  Russia. 
1685.  Louis  commences  a  merciless  persecution  of  his  Prot- 
estant subjects. 

1688.  The  glorious  Revolution  in  England.  Expulsion  of 
James  II.  William  of  Orange  is  made  King  of  England.  James 
takes  refuge  at  the  French  court,  and  Louis  undertakes  to  restore 
him.     General  war  in  the  west  of  Europe. 

1697.  Treaty  of  Ryswick.  Charles  XII.  becomes  King  of 
Sweden. 

1700.  Charles  II.  of  Spain  dies,  having  bequeathed  his  do- 
minions to  Philip  of  Anjou,  Louis  XIV.'s  grandson.  Defeat  of 
the  Russians  at  Narva,  by  Charles  XII. 

1701.  William  III.  forms  a  "Grand  Alliance"  oi  Austria,  the 
Empire,  the  United  Province,  England,  and  other  powers, 
against  France. 

1702.  King  William  dies;  but  his  successor,  Queen  Anne, 
adheres  to  the  Grand  Alliance,  and  war  is  proclaimed  against 
France. 


BATTLE  OF  BLENHEIM.  259 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE    BATTLE    OF    BLENHEIM,  1704. 

"The  decisive  blow  struck  at  Blenheirta  resounded  through  every  part  of 
Europe :  it  at  once  destroyed  the  vast  fabric  of  power  which  it  had  taken 
Louis  XIV.,  aided  by  the  talents  of  Turenne  and  the  genius  of  Vauban,  so 
long  to  construct. — Alison. 

Though  more  slowly  moulded  and  less  imposingly  vast  than 
the  empire  of  Napoleon,  the  power  which  Louis  XIV.  had  ac- 
quired and  was  acquiring  at  the  commencement  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  was  almost  equall}'^  menacing  to  the  general 
liberties  of  Europe.  If  tested  by  the  amount  of  permanent  ag- 
grandizement which  each  procured  for  France,  the  ambition  of 
the  royal  Bourbon  was  more  successful  than  were  the  enter- 
prises of  the  imperial  Corsican.  All  the  provinces  that  Bona- 
parte conquered  were  rent  again  from  France  within  twenty 
years  from  the  date  when  the  very  earliest  of  them  was  ac- 
quired. France  is  not  stronger  by  a  single  city  or  a  single  acre 
for  all  the  devastating  wars  of  the  Consulate  and  the  Empire. 
But  she  still  possesses  Franche-Comte,  Alsace,  and  part  of 
Flanders.  She  has  still  the  extended  boundaries  which  Louis 
XIV.  gave  her.  And  the  royal  Spanish  marriages,  a  few  years 
ago,  proved  clearly  how  enduring  has  been  the  political  influ- 
ence which  the  arts  and  arms  of  France's  "  Grand  Monarque  " 
obtained  for  her  southward  of  the  Pyrenees. 

When  Louis  XIV.  took  the  reins  of  government  into  his  own 
hands,  after  the  death  of  Cardinal  Mazarin,  there  was  a  union 
of  ability  with  opportunity  such  as  France  had  not  seen  since 
the  days  of  Charlemagne.  Moreover,  Louis's  career  was  no 
brief  one.  For  upwards  of  forty  years,  for  a  period  nearly 
equal  to  the  duration  of  Charlemagne's  reign,  Louis  steadily 
followed  an  aggressive  and  a  generally  successful  policy.  He 
passed  a  long  youth  and  manhood  of  triumph  before  the 
military  genius  of  Marlborough  made  him  acquainted  with 
humiliation  and  defeat.  The  great  Bourbon  lived  too  long. 
He  should  not  have  outstayed  our  two  English  kings — one  his 


260  BATTLE  OF  BLENHEIM. 

dependant,  James  II.,  the  other  his  antagonist,  William  III. 
Had  he  died  in  the  year  within  which  they  died,  his  reign 
would  be  cited  as  unequalled  in  the  French  annals  for  its  pros- 
perity. But  he  lived  on  to  see  his  armies  beaten,  his  cities  cap- 
tured, and  his  kingdom  wasted  by  disastrous  war.  It  is  as  if 
Charlemagne  had  survived  to  be  defeated  by  the  Northmen, 
and  to  witness  the  misery  and  shame  that  actually  fell  to  the 
lot  of  his  descendants. 

Still,  Louis  XIV.  had  forty  years  of  success ;  and  from  the 
permanence  of  their  fruits  we  may  judge  what  the  results  would 
have  been  if  the  last  fifteen  years  of  his  reign  had  been  equally 
fortunate.  Had  it  not  been  for  Blenheim,  all  Europe  might  at 
this  day  suffer  under  the  effect  of  French  conquests  resembling 
those  of  Alexander  in  extent,  and  those  of  the  Romans  in  dur- 
ability. 

When  Louis  XIV.  began  to  govern,  he  found  all  the  materi- 
als for  a  strong  government  ready  to  his  hand.  Richelieu  had 
completely  tamed  the  turbulent  spirit  of  the  French  nobility, 
and  had  subverted  the  "  imperium  in  imperio  "  of  the  Hugue- 
nots. The  faction  of  the  Frondeurs  in  Mazarin's  time  had  had 
the  effect  of  making  the  Parisian  parliament  utterly  hateful  and 
contemptible  in  the  eyes  of  the  nation.  The  Assemblies  of  the 
States -General  were  obsolete.  The  royal  authority  alone  re- 
mained. The  king  was  the  state.  Louis  knew  his  position. 
He  fearlessly  avowed  it,  and  he  fearlessly  acted  up  to  it.* 

Not  only  was  his  government  a  strong  one,  but  the  country 
which  he  governed  was  strong :  strong  in  its  geographical  situa- 
tion, in  the  compactness  of  its  territory,  in  the  number  and 
martial  spirit  of  its  inhabitants,  and  in  their  complete  and  un- 
divided nationality.  Louis  had  neither  a  Hungary  nor  an  Ire- 
land in  his  dominions.  And  it  was  not  till  late  in  his  reign, 
when  old  age  had  made  his  bigotry  more  gloomy,  and  had  given 
fanaticism  the  mastery  over  prudence,  that  his  persecuting  in- 
tolerance caused  the  civil  war  in  the  Cevennes. 

Like  Napoleon  in  after-times,  Louis  XIV.  saw  clearly  that  the 
great  wants  of  France  were  "  ships,  colonies,  and  commerce." 
But  Louis  did  more  than  see  these  wants :  by  the  aid  of  his 
great  minister,  Colbert,  he  supplied  them.  One  of  the  surest 
proofs  of  the  genius  of  Louis  was  his  skill  in  finding  out  genius 

*  "  Quand  Louis  XIV.  dit,  '  L'etat,  c'est  moi :'  il  n'y  eut  dans  cette  parole 
ni  enllure,  ni  vanterie,  raais  la  simple  e^o^Qiatio^  4'mo  fait." — Michelet, 
*'  flistoire  Moderne,"  vol.  ii.,  p,  106. 


BATTLE  OF  BLENHEIM.  261 

in  others,  and  his  promptness  in  calling  it  into  action.  Under 
him,  Louvois  organized,  Turenne,  Conde,  Villars,  and  Berwick 
led  the  armies  of  France ;  and  Vauban  fortified  her  frontiers. 
Throughout  his  reign,  French  diplomacy  was  marked  by  skil- 
fulness  and  activity,  and  also  by  comprehensive  far-sightedness, 
such  as  the  representatives  of  no  other  nation  possessed. 
Guizot's  testimony  to  the  vigor  that  was  displayed  through 
every  branch  of  Louis  XIV.'s  government,  and  to  the  extent  to 
which  France  at  present  is  indebted  to  him,  is  remarkable. 
He  says  that,  "  taking  the  public  services  of  every  kind,  the 
finances,  the  departments  of  roads  and  public  works,  the 
military  administration,  and  all  the  establishments  which  be- 
long to  every  branch  of  administration,  there  is  not  one  that 
will  not  be  found  to  have  had  its  origin,  its  development,  or  its 
greatest  perfection,  under  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV."  *  And  he 
points  out  to  us  that  "  the  government  of  Louis  XIV.  was  the 
first  that  presented  itself  to  the  eyes  of  Europe  as  a  power  act- 
ing upon  sure  grounds,  which  had  not  to  dispute  its  existence 
with  inward  enemies,  but  was  at  ease  as  to  its  territory  and  its 
people,  and  solely  occupied  with  the  task  of  administering  gov- 
ernment, properly  so  called.  All  the  European  governments 
had  been  previously  thrown  into  incessant  wars,  which  deprived 
them  of  all  security  as  well  as  of  all  leisure,  or  so  harassed  by 
internal  parties  or  antagonists  that  their  time  was  passed  in 
fighting  for  existence.  The  government  of  Louis  XIV.  was  the 
first  to  appear  as  a  busy  thriving  administration  of  affairs,  as  a 
power  at  once  definitive  and  progressive,  which  was  not  afraid 
to  innovate,  because  it  could  reckon  securely  on  the  future. 
There  have  been  in  fact  very  few  governments  equally  innovat- 
ing. Compare  it  with  a  government  of  the  same  nature,  the 
unmixed  monarchy  of  Philip  II.  in  Spain ;  it  was  more  absolute 
than  that  of  Louis  XIV.,  and  yet  it  was  far  less  regular  and 
tranquil.  How  did  Philip  11.  succeed  in  establishing  absolute 
power  in  Spain  ?  By  stifling  all  activity  in  the  country,  op- 
posing himself  to  every  species  of  amelioration,  and  rendering 
the  state  of  Spain  completely  stagnant.  The  government  of 
Louis  XIV.,  on  the  contrary,  exhibited  alacrity  for  all  sorts 
of  innovations,  and  showed  itself  favorable  to  the  progress 
of  letters,  arts,  wealth,  in  short,  of  civilization.  This  was  the 
veritable  cause  of  its  preponderance  in  Europe,  which  arose  to 
such  a  pitch  that  it  became  the  type  of  a  government  not  only 

*  "History  of  European  Civilization,"  Lecture  13. 


262  BATTLE  OF  BLENHEIM. 

to  sovereigns,  but  also  to  nations,  during  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury." 

While  France  was  thus  strong  and  united  in  herself,  and  ruled 
by  a  martial,  an  ambitious,  and  (with  all  his  faults)  an  enlight- 
ened and  high-spirited  sovereign,  what  European  power  was 
there  fit  to  cope  with  her,  or  keep  her  in  check? 

"As  to  Germany,  the  ambitious  projects  of  the  German 
branch  of  Austria  had  been  entirely  defeated,  the  peace  of  the 
empire  had  been  restored,  and  almost  a  new  constitution  formed, 
or  an  old  revived,  by  the  treaties  of  Westphalia ;  nay^  the  empe- 
rial  eagle  was  not  only  fallen^  but  her  wings  were  clipped^  * 

As  to  Spain,  the  Spanish  branch  of  the  Austrian  house  had 
sunk  equally  low.  Philip  II.  left  his  successors  a  ruined  mon- 
archy. He  left  them  something  worse :  he  left  them  his  example 
and  his  principles  of  government,  founded  in  ambition,  in  pride, 
in  ignorance,  in  bigotry,  and  all  the  pedantry  of  state. f 

It  is  not,  therefore,  to  be  wondered  at,  that  France,  in  the  first 
war  of  Louis  XIV.,  despised  the  opposition  of  both  branches  of 
the  once  predominant  house  of  Austria.  Indeed,  in  Germany 
the  French  king  acquired  allies  among  the  princes  of  the  em- 
pire against  the  emperor  himself.  He  hg,d  a  still  stronger  sup- 
port in  Austria's  misgovernment  of  her  own  subjects.  The 
words  of  Bolingbroke  on  this  are  remarkable,  and  some  of  them 
sound  as  if  written  within  the  last  three  years.  Bolingbroke 
says,  "  It  was  not  merely  the  want  of  cordial  co-operation  among 
the  princes  of  the  empire  that  disabled  the  emperor  from  acting 
with  vigor  in  the  cause  of  his  family  then,  nor  that  has  rendered 
the  house  of  Austria  a  dead  weight  upon  all  her  allies  ever  since. 
Bigotry,  and  its  inseparable  companion,  cruelty,  as  well  as  the 
tyranny  and  avarice  of  the  court  of  Vienna,  created  in  those 
days,  and  has  maintained  in  ours,  almost  a  perpetual  diversion 
of  the  imperial  arms  from  all  effectual  opposition  to  France.     / 

*  Bolingbroke,  vol.  ii.,  p.  SYS.  Lord  Bolingbroke's  "  Letters  on  the  Use  of 
History,"  and  his  "Sketch  of  the  History  and  State  of  Europe,"  abound  with 
remarks  on  Louis  XIV.  and  his  contemporaries,  of  which  the  substance  is 
as  sound  as  the  style  is  beautiful.  Unfortunately,  like  all  his  other  works, 
they  contain  also  a  large  proportion  of  sophistry  and  misrepresentation. 
The  best  test  to  use  before  we  adopt  any  opinion  or  assertion  of  Boling- 
broke's is  to  consider  whether  in  writing  it  he  was  thinking  either  of  Sir 
Robert  Walpole  or  of  Revealed  Religion.  When  either  of  these  objects  of 
his  hatred  was  before  his  mind,  he  scrupled  at  no  artifice  or  exaggeration 
thaX  might  serve  the  purpose  of  his  malignity.  On  most  other  occasions  he 
may  be  followed  with  advantage,  as  he  always  may  be  read  with  pleasure. 

f  Bolingbroke,  vol.  ii.,  p.  378. 


BATTLE  OF  BLENHEIM.  263 

mean  to  speak  of  the  troubles  in  Hungary.  Whatever  they 
became  in  their  progress^  they  were  caused  originally  by  the  usur- 
pations and  persecutions  of  the  emperor ;  and  when  the  Hun- 
garians ivere  called  rebels  first,  they  were  called  so  for  no  other 
reason  than,  this,  that  they  ivould  not  be  slaves.  The  dominion 
of  the  emperor  being  less  supportable  than  that  of  the  TurkSj 
this  unhappy  people  opened  a  door  to  the  latter  to  infest  the 
empire,  instead  of  making  their  country,  what  it  had  been  be- 
fore, a  barrier  against  the  Ottoman  power.  France  became  a 
sure  though  secret  ally  of  the  Turks,  as  well  as  the  Hungarians, 
and  has  found  her  account  in  it,  by  keeping  the  emperor  in  per- 
petual alarms  on  that  side,  while  she  has  ravaged  the  empire  and 
the  Low  Countries  on  the  other.* 

If,  after  having  seen  the  imbecility  of  Germany  and  Spain 
against  the  France  of  Louis  XIV.,  we  turn  to  the  two  only  re- 
maining European  powers  of  any  importance  at  that  time,  to  Eng- 
land and  to  Holland,  we  find  the  position  of  our  own  country  as 
to  European  politics,  from  1660  to  1688,  most  painful  to  con- 
template. From  1660  to  1688,  "England,  by  the  return  of  the 
Stuarts,  was  reduced  to  a  nullity."  The  words  are  Michelet's,| 
and  though  severe,  they  are  just.  They  are,  in  fact,  not  severe 
enough ;  for  when  England,  under  her  restored  dynasty  of  the 
Stuarts,  did  take  any  part  in  European  politics,  her  conduct,  or 
rather  her  king's  conduct,  was  almost  invariably  wicked  and 
dishonorable. 

Bolingbxoke  rightly  says  that,  previous  to  the  revolution  of 
1688,  during  the  whole  progress  that  Louis  XIV.  made  in  ob- 
taining such  exorbitant  power  as  gave  him  well-grounded  hopes 
of  acquiring  at  last  to  his  family  the  Spanish  monarchy,  Eng- 
land had  been  either  an  idle  spectator  of  what  passed  on  the 
Continent,  or  a  faint  and  uncertain  ally  against  France,  or  a 
warm  and  sure  ally  on  her  side,  or  a  partial  mediator  between 
her  and  the  powers  confederated  together  in  their  common  de- 
fence. But  though  the  court  of  England  submitted  to  abet  the 
usurpations  of  France,  and  the  King  of  England  stooped  to  be 
her  pensioner,  the  crime  was  not  national.  On  the  contrary, 
the  nation  cried  out  loudly  against  it  even  whilst  it  was  being 
committed.^; 

Holland  alone,  of  all  the  European  powers,  opposed  from  the 
very  beginning  a  steady  and  uniform  resistance  to  the  ambition 

*  Bolingbroke,  vol.  ii.,  p.  397.  f  "Histoire  Moderne,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  106. 

X  Bolingbroke,  vol.  ii.,  p.  418. 


S64  BATTLE  OF  BLENHEIM. 

and  power  of  the  French  king.  It  was  against  Holland  that  the 
fiercest  attacks  of  France  were  made,  and  though  often  appar- 
ently on  the  eve  of  complete  success,  they  were  always  ulti- 
mately baffled  by  the  stubborn  bravery  of  the  Dutch,  and  the 
heroism  of  their  leader,  William  of  Orange.  When  he  became 
king  of  England,  the  power  of  this  country  was  thrown  decid- 
edly into  the  scale  against  France ;  but  though  the  contest  was 
thus  rendered  less  unequal,  though  William  acted  throughout 
"  with  invincible  firmness,  like  a  patriot  and  a  hero,"  *  France 
had  the  general  superiority  in  every  war  and  in  every  treaty ; 
and  the  commencement  of  the  eighteenth  century  found  the 
last  league  against  her  dissolved,  all  the  forces  of  the  confeder- 
ates against  her  dispersed,  and  many  disbanded ;  while  France 
continued  armed,  with  her  veteran  forces  by  sea  and  land  in- 
creased, and  held  in  readiness  to  act  on  all  sides,  whenever  the 
opportunity  should  arise  for  seizing  on  the  great  prizes  which, 
from  the  very  beginning  of  his  reign,  had  never  been  lost  sight 
of  by  her  king. 

This  is  not  the  place  for  any  narrative  of  the  first  essay  which 
Louis  XIV.  made  of  his  power  in  the  war  of  1667  ;  of  his  rapid 
conquest  of  Flanders  and  Franche-Comte ;  of  the  treaty  of  Aix- 
la-Chapelle,  which  "  was  nothing  more  than  a  composition  be- 
tween the  bully  and  the  bullied  ;"f  of  his  attack  on  Holland  in 
1672  ;  of  the  districts  and  barrier-towns  of  the  Spanish  Nether- 
lands which  were  secured  to  him  by  the  treaty  of  Nimeguen  in 
1678;  of  how,  after  this  treaty,  he  "continued  to  vex  both 
Spain  and  the  empire,  and  to  extend  his  conquests  in  the  Low 
Countries  and  on  the  Rhine,  both  by  the  pen  and  the  sword ; 
how  he  took  Luxembourg  by  force,  stole  Strasburg,  and  bought 
Casal ;"  of  how  the  league  of  Augsburg  was  formed  against 
him  in  1686,  and  the  election  of  William  of  Orange  to  the 
English  throne  in  1688  gave  a  new  spirit  to  the  opposition 
which  France  encountered;  of  the  long  and  chequered  war 
that  followed,  in  which  the  French  armies  were  generally  vic- 
torious on  the  continent,  though  his  fleet  was  beaten  at  La 
Hogue,  and  his  dependant,  James  II.,  was  defeated  at  the 
Boyne,  or  of  the  treaty  of  Ryswick,  which  left  France  in  pos- 
session of  Roussillon,  Artois,  and  Strasburg,  which  gave  Europe 
no  security  against  her  claims  on  the  Spanish  succession,  and 
which  Louis  regarded  as  a  mere  truce,  to  gain  breathing-time 
before  a  more  decisive  struggle.    It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 

*BoliDgbroke,  vol.  ii.,  p.  404.  \  Ibid.,  p.  399. 


BATTLE  OF  BLENHEIM.  265 

the  ambition  of  Louis  in  these  wars  was  twofold.  It  had  its 
immediate  and  its  ulterior  objects.  Its  immediate  object  was  to 
conquer  and  annex  to  France  the  neighboring  provinces  and 
towns  that  were  most  convenient  for  the  increase  of  her  strength ; 
but  the  ulterior  object  of  Louis,  from  the  time  of  his  marriage 
to  the  Spanish  Infanta  in  1659,  was  to  acquire  for  the  house  of 
Bourbon  the  whole  empire  of  Spain.  A  formal  renunciation  of 
all  right  to  the  Spanish  succession  had  been  made  at  the  time 
of  the  marriage ;  but  such  renunciations  were  never  of  any- 
practical  effect,  and  many  casuists  and  jurists  of  the  age  even 
held  them  to  be  intrinsically  void.  As  time  passed  on,  and  the 
prospect  of  Charles  II.  of  Spain  dying  without  lineal  heirs  be- 
came more  and  more  certain,  so  did  the  claims  of  the  house  of 
Bourbon  to  the  Spanish  crown  after  his  death  become  matters 
of  urgent  interest  to  French  ambition  on  the  one  hand,  and  to 
the  other  powers  of  Europe  on  the  other.  At  length  the  unhappy 
King  of  Spain  died.  By  his  will  he  appointed  Philip,  Duke  of 
Anjou,  one  of  Louis  XIV.'s  grandsons,  to  .succeed  him  on  the 
throne  of  Spain,  and  strictly  forbade  any  partition  of  his  domin- 
ions. Louis  well  knew  that  a  general  European  war  would 
follow  if  he  accepted  for  his  house  the  crown  thus  bequeathed. 
But  he  had  been  preparing  for  this  crisis  throughout  his  reign. 
He  sent  his  grandson  into  Spain  as  King  Philip  V.  of  that 
country,  addressing  to  him  on  his  departure  the  memorable 
words,  "There  are  no  longer  any  Pyrenees." 

The  empire,  which  now  received  the  grandson  of  Louis  as  its 
king,  comprised,  besides  Spain  itself,  the  strongest  part  of  the 
Netherlands,  Sardinia,  Sicily,  Naples,  the  principality  of  Milan, 
and  other  possessions  in  Italy,  the  Philippines  and  Manilla  Isl- 
ands in  Asia,  and  in  the  New  World,  besides  California  and 
Florida,  the  greatest  part  of  Central  and  of  Southern  America. 
Philip  was  well  received  in  Madrid,  where  he  was  crowned  as 
King  Philip  V.  in  the  beginning  of  1701.  The  distant  por- 
tions of  his  empire  sent  in  their  adhesion ;  and  the  house  of 
Bourbon,  either  by  its  French  or  Spanish  troops,  now  had  oc- 
cupation both  of  the  kingdom  of  Francis  L  and  of  the  fairest 
and  amplest  portion  of  the  empire  of  the  great  rival  of  Francis, 
Charles  V. 

Loud  was  the  wrath  of  Austria,  whose  princes  were  the  rival 
claimants  of  the  Bourbons  for  the  empire  of  Spain.  The  in- 
dignation of  William  III.,  though  not  equally  loud,  was  far 
more  deep  and  energetic.  By  his  exertions  a  league  against 
the  house  of  Bourbon  was  formed  between  England,  Holland, 


266  BATTLE  OF  BLENHEIM. 

and  the  Austrian  emperor,  which  was  subsequently  joined  by  the 
kings  of  Portugal  and  Prussia,  by  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  and  by 
Denmark.  Indeed,  the  alarm  throughout  Europe  was  general 
and  urgent.  It  was  clear  that  Louis  aimed  at  consolidating 
France  and  the  Spanish  dominions  into  one  preponderating 
empire.  At  the  moment  when  Philip  was  departing  to  take 
possession  of  Spain,  Louis  had  issued  letters-patent  in  his  favor 
to  the  effect  of  preserving  his  rights  to  the  throne  of  France. 
And  Louis  had  himself  obtained  possession  of  the  important 
frontier  of  the  Spanish  Netherlands,  with  its  numerous  fortified 
cities,  which  were  given  up  to  his  troops  under  pretence  of 
securing  them  for  the  young  King  of  Spain.  Whether  the 
formal  union  of  the  two  crowns  was  likely  to  take  place 
speedily  or  not,  it  was  evident  that  the  resources  of  the  whole 
Spanish  monarchy  were  now  virtually  at  the  French  king's 
disposal. 

The  peril  that  seemed  to  menace  the  empire,  England,  Hol- 
land, and  the  other  independent  powers,  is  well  summed  up  by 
Alison :  "  Spain  had  threatened  the  liberties  of  Europe  in  the 
end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  France  had  all  but  overthrown 
them  in  the  close  of  the  seventeenth.  What  hope  was  there  of 
their  being  able  to  make  head  against  them  both,  united  under 
such  a  monarch  as  Louis  XIV.  ?"  * 

Our  knowledge  of  the  decayed  state  into  which  the  Spanish 
power  had  fallen  ought  not  to  make  us  regard  their  alarms 
as  chimerical.  Spain  possessed  enormous  resources,  and  her 
strength  was  capable  of  being  regenerated  by  a  vigorous  ruler. 
We  should  remember  what  Alberoni  effected,  even  after  the 
close  of  the  War  of  Succession.  By  what  that  minister  did  in 
a  few  years,  we  may  judge  what  Louis  XIV.  would  have  done 
in  restoring  the  maritime  and  military  power  of  that  great 
country  which  nature  has  so  largely  gifted,  and  which  man's 
misgovernment  has  so  debased. 

The  death  of  King  William  on  the  8th  of  March,  1V02,  at 
first  seemed  likely  to  paralyze  the  league  against  France,  for 
"  notwithstanding  the  ill-success  with  which  he  made  war  gener- 
ally, he  was  looked  upon  as  the  sole  centre  of  union  that  could 
keep  together  the  great  confederacy  then  forming;  and  how 
much  the  French  feared  from  his  life  had  appeared  a  few  years 
before,  in  the  extravagant  and  indecent  joy  they  expressed  on  a 
false  report  of  his  death.     A  short  time  showed  how  vain  the 

*"  Military  History  of  the  Duke  of  Marlborough,"  p.  82. 


BATTLE  OF  BLENHEIM.  267 

fears  of  some  and  the  hopes  of  others  were."  *  Queen  Anne, 
within  three  days  after  her  accession,  went  down  to  the  House 
of  Lords,  and  there  declared  her  resolution  to  support  the  meas- 
ures planned  by  her  predecessor,  who  had  been  "  the  great  sup- 
port, not  only  of  these  kingdoms,  but  of  all  Europe."  Anne 
was  married  to  Prince  George  of  Denmark,  and  by  her  acces- 
sion to  the  English  throne  the  confederacy  against  Louis  ob- 
tained the  aid  of  the  troops  of  Denmark;  but  Anne's  strong 
attachment  to  one  of  her  female  friends  led  to  far  more  im- 
portant advantages  to  the  anti-Gallican  confederacy  than  the 
acquisition  of  many  armies,  for  it  gave  them  Marlborough  as 
their  captain-general. 

There  are  few  successful  commanders  on  whom  Fame  has 
shone  so  unwillingly  as  upon  John  Churchill,  Duke  of  Marl- 
borough, Prince  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire — victor  of  Blen- 
heim, Ramilies,  Oudenarde,  and  Malplaquet — captor  of  Liege, 
Bonn,  Limburg,  Landau,  Ghent,  Bruges,  Antwerp,  Oudenarde, 
Ostend,  Menin,  Dendermonde,  Ath,  Lille,  Tournay,  Mons,  Douay, 
Aire,  Bethune,  and  Bouchain ;  who  never  fought  a  battle  that 
he  did  not  win,  and  never  besieged  a  place  that  he  did  not  take. 
Marlborough's  own  private  character  is  the  cause  of  this.  Mili- 
tary glory  may,  and  too  often  does,  dazzle  both  contemporaries 
and  posterity,  until  the  crimes  as  well  as  the  vices  of  heroes  are 
forgotten.  But  even  a  few  stains  of  personal  meanness  will  dim 
a  soldier's  reputation  irreparably  ;  and  Marlborough's  faults  were 
of  a  peculiarly  base  and  mean  order.  Our  feelings  towards  his- 
torical personages  are  in  this  respect  like  our  feelings  towards 
private  acquaintances.  There  are  actions  of  that  shabby  nature 
that,  however  much  they  may  be  outweighed  by  a  man's  good 
deeds  on  a  general  estimate  of  his  character,  we  never  can  feel 
any  cordial  liking  for  the  person  who  has  been  guilty  of  them. 
Thus,  with  respect  to  the  Duke  of  Marlborough,  it  goes  against 
our  feelings  to  admire  the  man  who  owed  his  first  advancement  in 
life  to  the  court  favor  which  he  and  his  family  acquired  through 
his  sister  becoming  one  of  the  mistresses  of  the  Duke  of  York. 
It  is  repulsive  to  know  that  Marlborough  laid  the  foundation  of 
his  wealth  by  being  the  paid  lover  of  one  of  the  fair  and  frail 
favorites  of  Charles  H.  His  treachery  and  ingratitude  to  his 
patron  and  benefactor,  James  IL,  stand  out  in  dark  relief,  even 
in  that  age  of  thankless  perfidy.  He  was  almost  equally  dis- 
loyal to  his  new  master,  King  William ;  and  a  more  un-English 

*  Bolingbroke,  vol.  ii.,  p.  445. 


268  BATTLE  OF  BLENHEIM. 

act  cannot  be  recorded  than  Godolphin's  and  Marlborough^s 
betrayal  to  the  French  court  in  1694  of  the  expedition  then 
designed  against  Brest,  an  act  of  treason  which  caused  some 
hundreds  of  English  soldiers  and  sailors  to  be  helplessly  slaugh- 
tered on  the  beach  in  Camaret  Bay. 

It  is,  however,  only  in  his  military  career  that  we  have  now  to 
consider  him ;  and  there  are  very  few  generals,  of  either  ancient 
or  modern  times,  whose  campaigns  will  bear  a  comparison  with 
those  of  Marlborough,  either  for  the  masterly  skill  with  which 
they  were  planned,  or  for  the  bold  yet  prudent  energy  with 
which  each  plan  was  carried  into  execution.  Marlborough 
had  served  while  young  under  Turenne,  and  had  obtained  the 
marked  praise  of  that  great  tactician.  It  would  be  difficult,  in- 
deed, to  name  a  single  quality  which  a  general  ought  to  have, 
and  with  which  Marlborough  was  not  eminently  gifted.  What 
principally  attracted  the  notice  of  contemporaries  was  the  im- 
perturbable evenness  of  his  spirit.     Voltaire  *  says  of  him : 

"  He  had,  to  a  degree  above  all  other  generals  of  his  time, 
that  calm  courage  in  the  midst  of  tumult,  that  serenity  of  soul 
in  danger,  which  the  English  call  a  cool  head  ["  que  les  Anglais 
appellent  cold  head,  tete  froide^^],  and  it  was  perhaps  this  quality, 
the  greatest  gift  of  nature  for  command,  which  formerly  gave 
the  English  so  many  advantages  over  the  French  in  the  plains 
of  Cressy,  Poictiers,  and  Agincourt." 

King  William's  knowledge  of  Marlborough's  high  abilities, 
though  he  knew  his  faithlessness  equally  well,  is  said  to  have 
caused  that  sovereign  in  his  last  illness  to  recommend  Marl- 
borough to  his  successor  as  the  fittest  person  to  command  her 
armies ;  but  Marlborough's  favor  with  the  new  queen  by  means 
of  his  wife  was  so  high  that  he  was  certain  of  obtaining  the 
highest  employment ;  and  the  war  against  Louis  opened  to  him 
a  glorious  theatre  for  the  display  of  those  military  talents  which 
he  had  before  only  had  an  opportunity  of  exercising  in  a  sub- 
ordinate character,  and  on  far  less  conspicuous  scenes. 

He  was  not  only  made  captain-general  of  the  English  forces 
at  home  and  abroad,  but  such  was  the  authority  of  England  in 
the  council  of  the  Grand  Alliance,  and  Marlborough  was  so 
skilled  in  winning  golden  opinions  from  all  whom  he  met  with, 
that,  on  his  reaching  the  Hague,  he  was  received  with  trans- 
ports of  joy  by  the  Dutch,  and  it  was  agreed  by  the  heads 
of  that  republic,  and  the  minister  of  the  emperor,  that  Marl- 

*  "  Si^cle  de  Louis  Quatorze." 


BATTLE  OF  BLENHEIM.  269 

borough  should  have  the  chief  command  of  all  the  allied  ar- 
mies. 

It  must  indeed,  in  justice  to  Marlborough,  be  borne  in  mind 
that  mere  military  skill  was  by  no  means  all  that  was  required 
of  him  in  this  arduous  and  invidious  station.  Had  it  not  been 
for  his  unrivalled  patience  and  sweetness  of  temper,  and  his 
marvellous  ability  in  discerning  the  character  of  those  with 
whom  he  had  to  act,  his  intuitive  perception  of  those  who  were 
to  be  thoroughly  trusted,  and  of  those  who  were  to  be  amused 
with  the  mere  semblance  of  respect  and  confidence — had  not 
Marlborough  possessed  and  employed,  while  at  the  head  of  the 
allied  armies,  all  the  qualifications  of  a  polished  courtier  and  a 
great  statesman,  he  never  would  have  led  the  allied  armies  to 
the  Danube.  The  Confederacy  would  not  have  held  together 
for  a  single  year.  His  great  political  adversary,  Bolingbroke, 
does  him  ample  justice  here.  Bolingbroke,  after  referring  to 
the  loss  which  King  William's  death  seemed  to  inflict  on  the 
cause  of  the  Allies,  observes  that,  "  By  his  death,  the  Duke  of 
Marlborough  was  raised  to  the  head  of  the  army,  and,  indeed, 
of  the  Confederacy ;  where  he,  a  new,  a  private  man,  a  subject, 
acquired  by  merit  and  by  management  a  more  deciding  in- 
fluence than  high  birth,  confirmed  authority,  and  even  the 
crown  of  Great  Britain  had  given  to  King  William.  Not  only 
all  the  parts  of  that  vast  machine,  the  Grand  Alliance,  were 
kept  more  compact  and  entire ;  but  a  more  rapid  and  vigorous 
motion  was  given  to  the  whole ;  and  instead  of  languishing  and 
disastrous  campaigns,  we  saw  every  scene  of  the  war  full  of 
action.  All  those  wherein  he  appeared,  and  many  of  those 
wherein  he  was  not  then  an  actor,  but  abettor,  however,  of  their 
action,  were  crowned  with  the  most  triumphant  success. 

"  I  take  with  pleasure  this  opportunity  of  doing  justice  to  that 
great  man,  whose  faults  I  knew,  whose  virtues  I  admired ;  and 
whose  memory,  as  the  greatest  general  and  as  the  greatest  minister 
that  our  country,  or  perhaps  any  other,  has  produced,  I  honor."* 

War  was  formally  declared  by  the  Allies  against  France  on 
the  4th  of  May,  1702.  The  principal  scenes  of  its  operation 
were,  at  first,  Flanders,  the  Upper  Rhine,  and  North  Italy. 
Marlborough  headed  the  allied  troops  in  Flanders  during  the 
first  two  years  of  the  war,  and  took  some  towns  from  the  enemy, 
but  nothing  decisive  occurred.  Nor  did  any  actions  of  impor- 
tance take  place  during  this  period  between  the  rival  armies  in 

♦  Bolingbroke,  vol.  ii.,  p.  446. 


270  BATTLE  OF  BLENHEIM. 

Italy.  But  in  the  centre  of  that  line  from  north  to  south,  from 
the  mouth  of  the  Scheldt  to  the  mouth  of  the  Po,  along  which 
the  war  was  carried  on,  the  generals  of  Louis  XIV.  acquired 
advantages  in  1703  which  threatened  one  chief  member  of  the 
Grand  Alliance  with  utter  destruction.  France  had  obtained 
the  important  assistance  of  Bavaria  as  her  confederate  in  the 
war.  The  elector  of  this  powerful  German  state  made  himself 
master  of  the  strong  fortress  of  Ulm,  and  opened  a  communica- 
tion with  the  French  armies  on  the  Upper  Rhine.  By  this 
junction  the  troops  of  Louis  were  enabled  to  assail  the  emperor 
in  the  very  heart  of  Germany.  In  the  autumn  of  the  year  1703, 
the  combined  armies  of  the  elector  and  French  king  completely 
defeated  the  Imperialists  in  Bavaria ;  and  in  the  following  win- 
ter they  made  themselves  masters  of  the  important  cities  of 
Augsburg  and  Passau.  Meanwhile  the  French  army  of  the 
Upper  Rhine  and  Moselle  had  beaten  the  allied  armies  opposed 
to  them,  and  taken  Treves  and  Landau.  At  the  same  time  the 
discontents  in  Hungary  with  Austria  again  broke  out  into  open 
insurrection,  so  as  to  distract  the  attention  and  complete  the 
terror  of  the  emperor  and  his  council  at  Vienna. 
'  Louis  XIV.  ordered  the  next  campaign  to  be  commenced  by 
his  troops  on  a  scale  of  grandeur  and  with  a  boldness  of  enter- 
prise such  as  even  Napoleon's  military  schemes  have  seldom 
equalled.  On  the  extreme  left  of  the  line  of  the  war,  in  the 
Netherlands,  the  French  armies  were  to  act  only  on  the  defen- 
sive. The  fortresses  in  the  hands  of  the  French  there  were  so 
many  and  so  strong  that  no  serious  impression  seemed  likely  to 
be  made  by  the  Allies  on  the  French  frontier  in  that  quarter 
during  one  campaign  ;  and  that  one  campaign  was  to  give  France 
such  triumphs  elsewhere  as  would  (it  was  hoped)  determine  the 
war.  Large  detachments  were,  therefore,  to  be  made  from  the 
French  force  in  Flanders,  and  they  were  to  be  led  by  Marshal 
Villeroy  to  the  Moselle  and  Upper  Rhine.  The  French  army 
already  in  the  neighborhood  of  those  rivers  was  to  march  under 
Marshal  Tallard  through  the  Black  Forest,  and  join  the  Elector 
of  Bavaria  and  the  French  troops  that  were  already  with  the 
elector  under  Marshal  Marsin.  Meanwhile  the  French  army  of 
Italy  was  to  advance  through  the  Tyrol  into  Austria,  and  the 
whole  forces  were  to  combine  between  the  Danube  and  the  Inn. 
A  strong  body  of  troops  was  to  be  despatched  into  Hungary,  to 
assist  and  organize  the  insurgents  in  that  kingdom ;  and  the 
French  grand  army  of  the  Danube  was  then,  in  collected  and 
irresistible  might,  to  march  upon  Vienna,  and  dictate  terms  of 


BATTLE  OF  BLENHEIM.  271 

peace  to  the  emperor.  High  military  genius  was  shown  in  the 
formation  of  this  plan,  but  it  was  met  and  baffled  by  a  genius 
higher  still. 

Marlborough  had  watched,  with  the  deepest  anxiety,  the  prog- 
ress of  the  French  arms  on  the  Rhine  and  in  Bavaria,  and  he 
saw  the  futility  of  carrying  on  a  war  of  posts  and  sieges  in 
Flanders  while  death-blows  to  the  empire  were  being  dealt  on 
the  Danube.  He  resolved,  therefore,  to  let  the  war  in  Flanders 
languish  for  a  year,  while  he  moved  with  all  the  disposable 
forces  that  he  could  collect  to  the  central  scenes  of  decisive 
operations.  Such  a  march  was  in  itself  difficult,  but  Marl- 
borough had,  in  the  first  instance,  to  overcome  the  still  greater 
difficulty  of  obtaining  the  consent  and  cheerful  co-operation  of 
the  Allies,  especially  of  the  Dutch,  whose  frontier  it  was  pro- 
posed thus  to  deprive  of  the  larger  part  of  the  force  which 
had  hitherto  been  its  protection.  Fortunately,  among  the  many 
slothful,  the  many  foolish,  the  many  timid,  and  the  not  few 
treacherous  rulers,  statesmen,  and  generals  of  different  nations 
with  whom  he  had  to  deal,  there  were  two  men,  eminent  both 
in  ability  and  integrity,  wlio  entered  fully  into  Marlborough's 
projects,  and  who,  from  the  stations  which  they  occupied,  were 
enabled  materially  to  forward  them.  One  of  these  was  the 
Dutch  statesman  Heinsius,  who  had  been  the  cordial  supporter 
of  King  William,  and  who  now,  with  equal  zeal  and  good  faith, 
supported  Marlborough  in  the  councils  of  the  Allies ;  the  other 
was  the  celebrated  general,  Prince  Eugene,  whom  the  Austrian 
cabinet  l^ad  recalled  from  the  Italian  frontier,  to  take  the  com- 
mand of  one  of  the  emperor's  armies  in  Germany.  To  these 
two  great  men,  and  a  few  more,  Marlborough  communicated  his 
plan  freely  and  unreservedly ;  but  to  the  general  councils  of  his 
allies  he  only  disclosed  part  of  his  daring  scheme.  He  proposed 
to  the  Dutch  that  he  should  march  from  Flanders  to  the  Upper 
Rhine  and  Moselle  with  the  British  troops  and  part  of  the  for- 
eign auxiliaries,  and  commence  vigorous  operations  against  the 
French  armies  in  that  quarter,  while  General  Auverquerque, 
with  the  Dutch  and  the  remainder  of  the  auxiliaries,  maintained 
a  defensive  war  in  the  Netherlands.  Having  with  difficulty 
obtained  the  consent  of  the  Dutch  to  this  portion  of  his  project, 
he  exercised  the  same  diplomatic  zeal,  with  the  same  success, 
in  urging  the  King  of  Prussia,  and  other  princes  of  the  empire, 
to  increase  the  number  of  the  troops  which  they  supplied,  and  to 
post  them  in  places  convenient  for  his  own  intended  movements. 

Marlborough  commenced  his  celebrated  march  on  the  19th  of 


272  BATTLE  OF  BLENHEIM. 

May.  The  army  which  he  was  to  lead  had  been  assembled  by 
his  brother,  General  Churchill,  at  Bedburg,  not  far  from  Maes- 
tricht,  on  the  Meuse ;  it  included  sixteen  thousand  English 
troops,  and  consisted  of  fifty-one  battalions  of  foot  and  ninety- 
two  squadrons  of  horse.  Marlborough  was  to  collect  and  join 
with  him  on  his  march  the  troops  of  Prussia,  Luneburg,  and 
Hesse,  quartered  on  the  Rhine,  and  eleven  Dutch  battalions  that 
were  stationed  at  Rothweil*  He  had  only  marched  a  single 
day,  when  the  series  of  interruptions,  complaints,  and  requi- 
sitions from  the  other  leaders  of  the  Allies  began,  to  which  he 
seemed  doomed  throughout  his  enterprise,  and  which  would  have 
caused  its  failure  in  the  hands  of  any  one  not  gifted  with  the 
firmness  and  the  exquisite  temper  of  Marlborough.  One  speci- 
men of  these  annoyances  and  Marlborough's  mode  of  dealing 
with  them  may  suffice.  On  his  encamping  at  Kupen,  on  the 
20th,  he  received  an  express  from  Auverquerque  pressing  him 
to  halt,  because  Villeroy,  who  commanded  the  French  army  in 
Flanders,  had  quitted  the  lines  which  he  had  been  occupying, 
and  crossed  the  Meuse  at  Namur  with  thirty-six  battalions  and 
forty-five  squadrons,  and  was  threatening  the  town  of  Huys. 
At  the  same  time  Marlborough  received  letters  from  the  Mar- 
grave of  Baden  and  Count  Wratislaw,  who  commanded  the 
Imperialist  forces  at  Stollhoffen,  near  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine, 
stating  that  Tallard  had  made  a  movement  as  if  intending  to 
cross  the  Rhine,  and  urging  him  to  hasten  his  march  towards 
the  lines  of  Stollhoffen.  Marlborough  was  not  diverted  by 
these  applications  from  the  prosecution  of  his  grand  design. 
Conscious  that  the  army  of  Villeroy  would  be  too  much  reduced 
to  undertake  offensive  operations,  by  the  detachments  which 
had  already  been  made  towards  the  Rhine,  and  those  which 
must  follow  his  own  march,  he  halted  only  a  day  to  quiet  the 
alarms  of  Auverquerque.  To  satisfy  also  the  margrave  he  or- 
dered the  troops  of  Hompesch  and  Bulow  to  draw  towards 
Philipsburg,  though  with  private  injunctions  not  to  proceed  be- 
yond a  certain  distance.  He  even  exacted  a  promise  to  the 
same  effect  from  Count  AVratislaw,  who  at  this  juncture  arrived 
at  the  camp  to  attend  him  durmg  the  whole  campaign.f 

Marlborough  reached  the  Rhine  at  Coblentz,  where  he  crossed 
that  river,  and  then  marched  along  its  right  bank  to  Braubach 
and  Mainz.  His  march,  though  rapid,  was  admirably  conducted, 
so  as  to  save  the  troops  from  all  unnecessary  fatigue;  ample 

♦  Coxe's  "  Life  of  Marlborough."  f  Coxe. 


BATTLE  OF  BLENHEIM.  273 

supplies  of  provisions  were  ready,  and  the  most  perfect  disci- 
pline was  maintained.  By  degrees  Marlborough  obtained  more 
reinforcements  from  the  Dutch  and  the  other  confederates,  and 
he  also  was  left  more  at  liberty  by  them  to  follow  his  own 
course.  Indeed,  before  even  a  blow  was  struck,  his  enterprise 
had  paralyzed  the  enemy,  and  had  materially  relieved  Austria 
from  the  pressure  of  the  war.  Villeroy,  with  his  detachments 
from  the  French-Flemish  army,  was  completely  bewildered  by 
Marlborough's  movements ;  and,  unable  to  divine  where  it  was 
that  the  English  general  meant  to  strike  his  blow,  wasted  away 
the  early  part  of  the  summer  between  Flanders  and  the  Moselle 
without  effecting  anything.* 

Marshal  Tallard,  who  commanded  forty-five  thousand  men  at 
Strasburg,  and  who  had  been  destined  by  Louis  to  march  early 
in  the  year  into  Bavaria,  thought  that  Marlborough's  march 
along  the  Rhine  was  preliminary  to  an  attack  upon  Alsace ;  and 
the  marshal  therefore  kept  his  forty-five  thousand  men  back  in 
order  to  support  France  in  that  quarter.  Marlborough  skilfully 
encouraged  his  apprehensions  by  causing  a  bridge  to  be  con- 
structed across  the  Rhine  at  Philipsburg,  and  by  making  the 
Landgrave  of  Hesse  advance  his  artillery  at  Manheim,  as  if  for 
a  siege  of  Landau.  Meanwhile  the  Elector  of  Bavaria  and 
Marshal  Marsin,  suspecting  that  Marlborough's  design  might  be 
what  it  really  proved  to  be,  forbore  to  press  upon  the  Austrians 
opposed  to  them,  or  to  send  troops  into  Hungary  ;  and  they 
kept  back  so  as  to  secure  their  communications  with  France. 
Thus,  when  Marlborough,  at  the  beginning  of  June,  left  the 
Rhine  and  marched  for  the  Danube,  the  numerous  hostile  armies 
were  uncombined,  and  unable  to  check  him. 

"  With  such  skill  and  science  had  this  enterprise  been  con- 
certed that  at  the  very  moment  when  it  assumed  a  specific 
direction  the  enemy  was  no  longer  enabled  to  render  it  abortive. 
As  the  march  was  now  to  be  bent  towards  the  Danube,  notice 
was  given  for  the  Prussians,  Palatines,  and  Hessians,  who  were 
stationed  on  the  Rhine,  to  order  their  march  so  as  to  join  the 
main  body  in  its  progress.  At  the  same  time  directions  were 
sent  to  accelerate  the  advance  of  the  Danish  auxiliaries,  who 
were  marching  from  the  Netherlands."  f 

Crossing  the  river  Neckar,  Marlborough  marched  in  a  south- 

*  *'  Marshal  Villeroy,"  says  Voltaire,  "  who  had  wished  to  follow  Marl- 
borough on  his  first  marches,  suddenly  lost  sight  of  him  altogether,  and  only 
learned  where  he  really  was  on  hearing  of  his  victory  at  Donauwert." — 
Sihcle  de  Louis  XIV.  \  Coxe. 


274  BATTLE  OF  BLENHEIM. 

eastern  direction  to  Mundelshene,  where  he  had  his  first  personal 
interview  with  Prince  Eugene,  who  was  destined  to  be  his  col- 
league on  so  raany  glorious  fields.  Thence,  though  a  difficult 
and  dangerous  country,  Marlborough  continued  his  march  against 
the  Bavarians,  whom  he  encountered  on  the  2d  of  July,  on  the 
heights  of  the  Schullenberg,  near  Donauwert.  Marlborough 
stormed  their  intrenched  camp,  crossed  the  Danube,  took 
several  strong  places  in  Bavaria,  and  made  himself  completely 
master  of  the  elector's  dominions,  except  the  fortified  cities  of 
Munich  and  Augsburg.  But  the  elector's  army,  though  defeated 
at  Donauwert,  was  still  numerous  and  strong ;  and  at  last  Mar- 
shal Tallard,  when  thoroughly  apprised  of  the  real  nature  of 
Marlborough's  movements,  crossed  the  Rhine.  He  was  suffered, 
through  the  supineness  of  the  German  general  at  Stollhoffen,  to 
march  without  loss  through  the  Black  Forest,  and  united  his 
powerful  army  at  Biberach  near  Augsburg  with  that  of  the 
elector  and  the  French  troops  under  Marshal  Marsin,  who  had 
previously  been  co-operating  with  the  Bavarians.  On  the  other 
hand,  Marlborough  recrossed  the  Danube,  and  on  the  11th  of 
August  united  his  army  with  the  Imperialist  forces  under  Prince 
Eugene.  The  combined  armies  occupied  a  position  near  Hoch- 
stadt,  a  little  higher  up  the  left  bank  of  the  Danube  than 
Donauwert,  the  scene  of  Marlborough's  recent  victory,  and 
almost  exactly  on  the  ground  where  Marshal  Villars  and  the 
Elector  had  defeated  an  Austrian  army  in  the  preceding  year. 
The  French  marshals  and  the  elector  were  now  in  position  a 
little  farther  to  the  east,  between  Blenheim  and  Lutzingen,  and 
with  the  little  stream  of  the  Nebel  between  them  and  the  troops 
of  Marlborough  and  Eugene.  The  Gallo-Bavarian  army  con- 
sisted of  about  sixty  thousand  men,  and  had  sixty-one  pieces 
of  artillery.  The  army  of  the  Allies  was  about  fifty-six  thou- 
sand strong,  with  fifty-two  guns.* 

Although  the  French  army  of  Italy  had  been  unable  to  penetrate 
into  Austria,  and  although  the  masterly  strategy  of  Marlborough 
had  hitherto  warded  off  the  destruction  with  which  the  cause  of 
the  Allies  seemed  menaced  at  the  beginning  of  the  campaign, 
the  peril  was  still  most  serious.  It  was  absolutely  necessary 
for  Marlborough  to  attack  the  enemy  before  Villeroy  should 

*  A  short  time  before  the  War  of  the  Succession  the  musket  and  bayonet 
had  been  made  the  arms  of  all  the  French  infantry.  It  had  formerly  been 
usual  to  mingle  pike-men  with  musketeers.  The  other  European  nations 
followed  the  example  of  France,  and  the  weapons  used  at  Blenheim  were 
aubstantially  the  same  as  those  still  employed. 


BATTLE  OF  BLENHEIM.  2*75 

be  roused  into  action.  There  was  nothing  to  stop  that  general 
and  his  army  from  marching  into  Franconia,  whence  the  Allies 
drew  their  principal  supplies  ;  and,  besides  thus  distressing  them, 
he  might,  by  marching  on  and  joining  his  army  to  those  of 
Tallard  and  the  elector,  form  a.  mass  which  would  overwhelm 
the  force  under  Marlborough  and  Eugene.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  chances  of  a  battle  seemed  perilous,  and  the  fatal  conse- 
quences of  a  defeat  were  certain.  The  inferiority  of  the  Allies 
in  point  of  number  was  not  very  great,  but  still  it  was  not  to  be 
disregarded ;  and  the  advantage  which  the  enemy  seemed  to 
have  in  the  composition  of  their  troops  was  striking.  Tallard 
and  Marsin  had  forty-five  thousand  Frenchmen  under  them,  all 
veterans,  and  all  trained  to  act  together :  the  elector's  own 
troops,  also,  were  good  soldiers.  Marlborough,  like  Wellington 
at  Waterloo,  headed  an  army,  of  which  the  larger  proportion 
consisted  not  of  English,  but  of  men  of  many  different  nations 
and  many  different  languages.  He  was  also  obliged  to  be  the 
assailant  in  the  action,  and  thus  to  expose  his  troops  to  compara- 
tively heavy  loss  at  the  commencement  of  the  battle,  while  the 
enemy  would  fight  under  the  protection  of  the  villages  and  lines 
which  they  were  actively  engaged  in  strengthening.  The  con- 
sequences of  a  defeat  of  the  confederated  army  must  have 
broken  up  the  Grand  Alliance,  and  realized  the  proudest  hopes 
of  the  French  king.  Mr.  Alison,  in  his  admirable  military 
history  of  the  Duke  of  Marlborough,  has  truly  stated  the  effects 
which  would  have  taken  place  if  France  had  been  successful  in 
the  war.  And  when  the  position  of  the  Confederates  at  the 
time  when  Blenheim  was  fought  is  remembered  ;  when  we  recol- 
lect the  exhaustion  of  Austria,  the  menacing  insurrection  of  Hun- 
gary, the  feuds  and  jealousies  of  the  German  princes,  the  strength 
and  activity  of  the  Jacobite  party  in  England,  the  imbecility  of 
nearly  all  the  Dutch  statesmen  of  the  time,  and  the  weakness 
of  Holland  if  deprived  of  her  allies,  we  may  adopt  his  words  in 
speculating  on  what  would  have  ensued  if  France  had  been 
victorious  in  the  battle,  and  "  if  a  power  animated  by  the  am- 
bition, guided  by  the  fanaticism,  and  directed  by  the  ability  of 
that  of  Louis  XIV.  had  gained  the  ascendency  in  Europe. 
Beyond  all  question,  a  universal  despotic  dominion  would  have 
been  established  over  the  bodies,  a  cruel  spiritual  thraldom  over 
the  minds  of  men.  France  and  Spain  united  under  Bourbon 
princes,  and  in  a  close  family  alliance — the  empire  of  Char- 
lemagne with  that  of  Charles  V. ;  the  power  which  revoked  the 
Edict  of  Nantes  and  perpetrated  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew, 


276  BATTLE  OF  BLENHEIM. 

with  that  which  banished  the  Moriscoes  and  established  the 
Inquisition,  would  have  proved  irresistible,  and  beyond  example 
destructive  to  the  best  interests  of  mankind. 

"The  Protestants  might  have  been  driven,  like  the  Pagan 
heathens  of  old  by  the  son  of  Pepin,  beyond  the  Elbe;  the 
Stuart  race,  and  with  them  Romish  ascendency,  might  have  been 
re-established  in  England ;  the  fire  lighted  by  Latimer  and 
Ridley  might  have  been  extinguished  in  blood ;  and  the  energy 
breathed  by  religious  freedom  into  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  might 
have  expired.  The  destinies  of  the  world  would  have  been 
changed.  Europe,  instead  of  a  variety  of  independent  states, 
whose  mutual  hostility  kept  alive  courage,  while  their  national 
rivalry  stimulated  talent,  would  have  sunk  into  the  slumber 
attendant  on  universal  dominion.  The  colonial  empire  of  Eng- 
land would  have  withered  away  and  perished,  as  that  of  Spain 
has  done  in  the  grasp  of  the  Inquisition.  The  Anglo-Saxon  race 
would  have  been  arrested  in  its  mission  to  overspread  the  earth 
and  subdue  it.  The  centralized  despotism  of  the  Roman  empire 
would  have  been  renewed  on  Continental  Europe ;  the  chains 
of  Romish  tyranny,  and  with  them  the  general  infidelity  of 
France  before  the  Revolution,  would  have  extinguished  or  per- 
verted thought  in  the  British  islands."* 

Marlborough's  words  at  the  council  of  war,  when  a  battle  was 
resolved  on,  are  remarkable,  and  they  deserve  recording.  We 
know  them  on  the  authority  of  his  chaplain,  Mr.  (afterwards 
Bishop)  Hare,  who  accompaniied  him  throughout  the  campaign, 
and  in  whose  journal  the  biographers  of  Marlborough  have  found 
many  of  their  best  materials.  Marlborough's  words  to  the  ofii- 
cers  who  remonstrated  with  him  on  the  seeming  temerity  of  at- 
tacking the  enemy  in  their  position  were — "  I  know  the  danger, 
yet  a  battle  is  absolutely  necessary ;  and  I  rely  on  the  bravery 
and  discipline  of  the  troops,  which  will  make  amends  for  our 
disadvantages."  In  the  evening  orders  were  issued  for  a  general 
engagement,  and  received  by  the  army  with  an  alacrity  which 
justified  his  confidence. 

The  French  and  Bavarians  were  posted  behind  a  little  stream 
called  the  Nebel,  which  runs  almost  from  north  to  south  into  the 
Danube  immediately  in  front  of  the  village  of  Blenheim.  The 
Nebel  flows  along  a  little  valley,  and  the  French  occupied  the 
rising  ground  to  the  west  of  it.  The  village  of  Blenheim  was 
the  extreme  right  of  their  position,  and  the  village  of  Lutzingen, 

*  Alison's  "  Life  of  Marlborotigh,"  p.  248. 


BATTLE  OF  BLENHEIM. 


277 


about  three  miles  north  of  Blenheim,  formed  their  left.  Beyond 
Lutzingen  are  the  rugged  high  grounds  of  the  Godd  Berg,  and 
Eich  Berg,  on  the  skirts  of  which  some  detachments  were  posted 
so  as  to  secure  the  Gallo-Bavarian  position  from  being  turned 
on  the  left  flank.     The  Danube  protected  their  right  flank ;  and 


Bafiae 
BLEIIHEIH 


PLAN    OF    THE    BATTLE    OF    BLENHEIM. 


it  was  only  in  front  that  they  could  be  attacked.  The  villages 
of  Blenheim  and  Lutzingen  had  been  strongly  palisaded  and 
intrenched.  Marshal  Tallard,  who  held  the  chief  command, 
took  his  station  at  Blenheim ;  Prince  Maximilian  the  Elector 
and  Marshal  Marsin  commanded  on  the  left.  Tallard  garrisoned 
Blenheim  with  twenty -six  battalions  of  French  infantry  and  twelve 
squadrons  of  French  cavalry.  Marsin  and  the  elector  had  twenty- 
two  battalions  of  infantry,  and  thirty-six  squadrons  of  cavalry  in 
front  of  the  village  of  Lutzingen.  The  centre  was  occupied  by 
fourteen  battalions  of  infantry,  including  the  celebrated  Irish 
Brigade.  These  were  posted  in  the  little  hamlet  of  Oberglau, 
which  lies  somewhat  nearer  to  Lutzingen  than  to  Blenheim. 
Eighty  squadrons  of  cavalry  and  seven  battalions  of  foot  were 
ranged  between  Oberglau  and  Blenheim.  Thus  the  French  position 
was  very  strong  at  each  extremity,  but  was  comparatively  weak  in 
the  centre.  Tallard  seems  to  have  relied  on  the  swampy  state  of  the 
part  of  the  valley  that  reaches  from  below  Oberglau  to  Blen- 
heim for  preventing  any  serious  attack  on  this  part  of  his  line. 


278  BATTLE  OF  BLENHEIM. 

The  army  of  the  Allies  was  formed  into  two  great  divisions ; 
the  largest  being  commanded  by  the  duke  in  person,  and  being 
destined  to  act  against  Tallard,  while  Prince  Eugene  led  the 
other  division,  which  consisted  chiefly  of  cavalry,  and  was  in- 
tended to  oppose  the  enemy  under  Marsin  and  the  elector.  As 
they  approached  the  enemy,  Marlborough's  troops  formed  the 
left  and  the  centre,  while  Eugene's  formed  the  right  of  the 
entire  army.  Early  in  the  morning  of  the  13th  of  August,  the 
Allies  left  their  own  camp  and  marched  towards  the  enemy.  A 
thick  haze  covered  the  ground,  and  it  was  not  until  the  allied 
right  and  centre  had  advanced  nearly  within  cannon-shot  of  the 
enemy  that  Tallard  was  aware  of  their  approach.  He  made  his 
preparations  with  what  haste  he  could,  and  about  eight  o'clock 
a  heavy  fire  of  artillery  was  opened  from  the  French  right  on 
the  advancing  left  wing  of  the  British.  Marlborough  ordered 
up  some  of  his  batteries  to  reply  to  it,  and  while  the  columns 
that  were  to  form  the  allied  left  and  centre  deployed,  and  took 
up  their  proper  stations  in  the  line,  a  warm  cannonade  was  kept 
up  by  the  guns  on  both  sides. 

The  ground  which  Eugene's  columns  had  to  traverse  was 
peculiarly  diflScult,  especially  for  the  passage  of  the  artillery  ; 
and  it  was  nearly  midday ,  before  he  could  get  his  troops  into 
line  opposite  to  Lutzingen.  During  this  interval,  Marlborough 
ordered  divine  service  to  be  performed  by  the  chaplains  at  tlie 
head  of  each  regiment ;  and  then  rode  along  the  lines,  and  found 
both  ofiicers  and  men  in  the  highest  spirits,  and  waiting  impa- 
tiently for  the  signal  for  the  attack.  At  length  an  aide-de-camp 
galloped  up  from  the  right  with  the  welcome  news  that  Eugene 
was  ready.  Marlborough  instantly  sent  Lord  Cutts,  with  a  strong 
brigade  of  infantry,  to  assault  the  village  of  Blenheim,  while  he 
himself  led  the  main  body  down  the  eastward  slope  of  the  valley 
of  the  Nebel,  and  prepared  to  effect  the  passage  of  the  stream. 

The  assault  on  Blenheim,  though  bravely  made,  was  repulsed 
with  severe  loss;  and  Marlborough,  finding  how  strongly  that 
village  was  garrisoned,  desisted  from  any  further  attempts  to 
carry  it,  and  bent  all  his  energies  to  breaking  the  enemy's  line 
between  Blenheim  and  Oberglau.  Some  temporary  bridges  had 
been  prepared,  and  planks  and  fascines  had  been  collected ;  and 
by  the  aid  of  these,  and  a  little  stone  bridge  which  crossed  the 
Nebel,  near  a  hamlet  called  Unterglau,  that  lay  in  the  centre 
of  the  valley,  Marlborough  succeeded  in  getting  several  squad- 
rons across  the  Nebel,  though  it  was  divided  into  several  branch- 
es, and  the  ground  between  them  was  soft,  and  in  places  little 


BATTLE   OF  BLENHEIM.  279 

better  than  a  mere  marsh.  But  the  French  artillery  was  not 
idle.  The  cannon  balls  plunged  incessantly  among  the  advanc- 
ing squadrons  of  the  Allies ;  and  bodies  of  French  cavalry  rode 
frequently  down  from  the  western  ridge,  to  charge  them  before 
they  had  time  to  form  on  the  firm  ground.  It  was  only  by 
supporting  his  men  by  fresh  troops,  and  by  bringing  up  infantry, 
who  checked  the  advance  of  the  enemy's  horse  by  their  steady 
fire,  that  Marlborough  was  able  to  save  his  army  in  this  quarter 
from  a  repulse,  which,  following  the  failure  of  the  attack  upon 
Blenheim,  would  probably  have  been  fatal  to  the  Allies.  By 
degrees  his  cavalry  struggled  over  the  blood-stained  streams  ; 
the  infantry  were  also  now  brought  across,  so  as  to  keep  in  check 
the  French  troops  who  held  Blenheim,  and  who,  when  no  longer 
assailed  in  front,  had  begun  to  attack  the  Allies  on  their  left 
with  considerable  effect. 

Marlborough  had  thus  at  last  succeeded  in  drawing  up  the 
whole  left  wing  of  his  army  beyond  the  Nebel,  and  was  about 
to  press  forward  with  it,  when  he  was  called  away  to  another 
part  of  the  field  by  a  disaster  that  had  befallen  his  centre.  The 
Prince  of  Holstein-Beck  had,  with  eleven  Hanoverian  battalions, 
passed  the  Nebel  opposite  to  Oberglau,  when  he  was  charged  and 
utterly  routed  by  the  Irish  brigade  which  held  that  village.  The 
Irish  drove  the  Hanoverians  back  with  heavy  slaughter,  broke 
completely  through  the  line  of  the  Allies,  and  nearly  achieved  a 
success  as  brilliant  as  that  which  the  same  brigade  afterwards 
gained  at  Fontenoy.  But  at  Blenheim  their  ardor  in  pursuit 
led  them  too  far.  Marlborough  came  up  in  person,  and  dashed  in 
upon  their  exposed  flank  with  some  squadrons  of  British  cavalry. 
The  Irish  reeled  back,  and  as  they  strove  to  regain  the  height 
of  Oberglau,  their  column  was  raked  through  and  through  by 
the  fire  of  three  battalions  of  the  Allies,  which  Marlborough  had 
summoned  up  from  the  reserve.  Marlborough  having  re-estab- 
lished the  order  and  communication  of  the  Allies  in  this  quarter, 
now,  as  he  returned  to  his  own  left  wing,  sent  to  learn  how  his 
colleague  fared  against  Marsin  and  the  elector,  and  to  inform 
Eugene  of  his  own  success. 

Eugene  had  hitherto  not  been  equally  fortunate.  He  had 
made  three  attacks  on  the  enemy  opposed  to  him,  and  had  been 
thrice  driven  back.  It  was  only  by  his  own  desperate  personal 
exertions,  and  the  remarkable  steadiness  of  the  regiments  of 
Prussian  infantry  which  were  under  him,  that  he  was  able  to 
save  his  wing  from  being  totally  defeated.  But  it  was  on  the 
southern  part  of  the  battle-field,  on  the  ground  which  Marl- 


280  BATTLE   OF  BLENHEIM. 

borough  had  won  beyond  the  Nebel  with  such  difficulty,  that 
the  crisis  of  the  battle  was  to  be  decided. 

Like  Hannibal,  Marlborough  relied  principally  on  his  cavalry 
for  achieving  his  decisive  successes,  and  it  was  by  his  cavalry 
that  Blenheim,  the  greatest  of  his  victories,  was  won.  The  bat- 
tle had  lasted  till  five  in  the  afternoon.  Marlborough  had  now 
eight  thousand  horsemen  drawn  up  in  two  lines,  and  in  the  most 
perfect  order  for  a  general  attack  on  the  enemy's  line  along 
the  space  between  Blenheim  and  Oberglau.  The  infantry  was 
drawn  up  in  battalions  in  their  rear,  so  as  to  support  them  if  re- 
pulsed, and  to  keep  in  check  the  large  masses  of  the  French 
that  still  occupied  the  village  of  Blenheim.  Tallard  now  inter- 
laced his  squadrons  of  cavalry  with  battalions  of  infantry ;  and 
Marlborough,  by  a  corresponding  movement,  brought  several 
regiments  of  infantry,  and  some  pieces  of  artillery,  to  his  front 
line,  at  intervals  between  the  bodies  of  horse.  A  little  after 
five,  Marlborough  commenced  the  decisive  movement,  and  the 
allied  cavalry,  strengthened  and  supported  by  foot  and  guns, 
advanced  slowly  from  the  lower  ground  near  the  Nebel  up  the 
slope  to  where  the  French  cavalry,  ten  thousand  strong,  awaited 
them.  On  riding  over  the  summit  of  the  acclivity,  the  Allies 
were  received  with  so  hot  a  fire  from  the  French  artillery  and 
small  arms  that  at  first  the  cavalry  recoiled,  but  without  aban- 
doning the  high  ground.  The  guns  and  the  infantry  which 
they  had  brought  with  them  maintained  the  contest  with  spirit 
and  effect.  The  French  fire  seemed  to  slacken.  Marlborough 
instantly  ordered  a  charge  along  the  line.  The  allied  cavalry 
galloped  forward  at  the  enemy's  squadrons,  and  the  hearts  of 
the  French  horsemen  failed  them.  Discharging  their  carbines 
at  an  idle  distance,  they  wheeled  round  and  spurred  from  the 
field,  leaving  the  nine  infantry  battalions  of  their  comrades  to 
be  ridden  down  by  the  torrent  of  the  allied  cavalry.  The  bat- 
tle was  now  won.  Tallard  and  Marsin,  severed  from  each  other, 
thought  only  of  retreat.  Tallard  drew  up  the  squadrons  of 
horse  which  he  had  left,  in  a  line  extended  towards  Blenheim, 
and  sent  orders  to  the  infantry  in  that  village  to  leave  and  join 
him  without  delay.  But  long  ere  his  orders  could  be  obeyed 
the  conquering  squadrons  of  Marlborough  had  wheeled  to  the 
left  and  thundered  down  on  the  feeble  army  of  the  French  mar- 
shal. Part  of  the  force  which  Tallard  had  drawn  up  for  this 
last  effort  were  driven  into  the  Danube  ;  part  fled  with  their  gen- 
eral to  the  village  of  Sonderheim,  where  they  were  soon  sur- 
rounded by  the  victorious  Allies,  and  compelled  to  surrender. 


BATTLE  OF  BLENHEfM,  281 

Meanwhile,  Eugene  had  renewed  his  attack  upon  tlie  Oallo- 
Bavarian  left,  and  Marsin,  finding  his  colleague  utterly  routed, 
and  his  own  right  flank  uncovered,  prepared  to  retreat.  He  and 
the  elector  succeeded  in  withdrawing  a  considerable  part  of 
their  troops  in  tolerable  order  to  Dillingen ;  but  the  large  body 
of  French  who  garrisoned  Blenheim  were  left  exposed  to  certain 
destruction.  Marlborough  speedily  occupied  all  the  outlets 
from  the  village  with  his  victorious  troops,  and  then,  collecting 
his  artillery  round  it,  he  commenced  a  cannonade  that  speedily 
would  have  destroyed  Blenheim  itself  and  all  who  were  in  it. 
After  several  gallant  but  unsuccessful  attempts  to  cut  their  way 
through  the  Allies,  the  French  in  Blenheim  were  at  length  com- 
pelled to  surrender  at  discretion ;  and  twenty-four  battalions, 
and  twelve  squadrons,  with  all  their  oflScers,  laid  down  their 
arms  and  became  the  captives  of  Marlborough. 

"  Such,"  said  Voltaire,  "  was  the  celebrated  battle,  which  the 
French  call  the  battle  of  Hochstet,  the  Germans  Plentheira,  and 
the  English  Blenheim.  The  conquerors  had  about  five  thousand 
killed,  and  eight  thousand  wounded,  the  greater  part  being  on 
the  side  of  Prince  Eugene.  The  French  army  was  almost  en- 
tirely destroyed :  of  sixty  thousand  men,  so  long  victorious, 
there  never  reassembled  more  than  twenty  thousand  effective. 
About  twelve  thousand  killed,  fourteen  thousand  prisoners,  all 
the  cannon,  a  prodigious  number  of  colors  and  standards,  all  the 
tents  and  equipages,  the  general  of  the  army,  and  one  thousand 
two  hundred  officers  of  mark,  in  the  power  of  the  conqueror, 
signalized  that  day !" 

Ulm,  Landau,  Treves,  and  Traerbach  surrendered  to  the  allies 
before  the  close  of  the  year.  Bavaria  submitted  to  the  em- 
peror, and  the  Hungarians  laid  down  their  arms.  Germany  was 
completely  delivered  from  France  ;  and  the  military  ascendency 
of  the  arms  of  the  Allies  was  completely  established.  Through- 
out the  rest  of  the  war  Louis  fought  only  in  defence.  Blenheim 
had  dissipated  forever  his  once  proud  visions  of  almost  univer- 
sal conquest. 

SYNOPSIS  OF  EVENTS  BETWEEN  THE   BATTLE  OF  BLENHEIM, 
1704,  AND  THE  BATTLE  OF  PULTOWA,  1709. 

A.D.  1705.  The  Archduke  Charles  lands  in  Spain  with  a  small 
English  army  under  Lord  Peterborough,  who  takes  Barcelona. 

1706.  Marlborough's  victory  at  Ramilies. 

1*707.  The  English  army  in  Spain  is  defeated  bX  the  battle  of 
Almanza. 

1708,  Marlborough's  victory  at  Oudenarde. 


282  BATTLE  OF  PULTOWA. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE    BATTLE    OF    PULTOWA,   1709. 

"  Dread  Pultowa's  day, 

When  fortune  left  the  royal  Swede, 
Around  a  slaughtered  army  lay, 

No  more  to  combat  and  to  bleed. 
The  power  and  fortune  of  the  war 
Had  passed  to  the  triumphant  Czar." — Byron. 

Napoleon  prophesied  at  St.  Helena  that  all  Europe  would 
soon  be  either  Cossack  or  Republican.  Four  years  ago,  the  ful- 
filment of  the  last  of  these  alternatives  appeared  most  probable. 
But  the  democratic  movements  of  1848  were  sternly  repressed 
in  1849.  The  absolute  authority  of  a  single  ruler,  and  the 
austere  stillness  of  martial  law,  are  now  paramount  in  the  capi- 
tals of  the  Continent,  which  lately  owned  no  sovereignty  save 
the  will  of  the  multitude,  and  where  that  which  the  democrat 
calls  his  sacred  right  of  insurrection  was  so  loudly  asserted  and 
so  often  fiercely  enforced.  Many  causes  have  contributed  to 
bring  about  this  reaction,  but  the  most  effective  and  the  most 
permanent  have  been  Russian  influence  and  Russian  arms.  Rus- 
sia is  now  the  avowed  and  acknowledged  champion  of  Monarchy 
against  Democracy  —  of  constituted  authority,  however  ac- 
quired, against  revolution  and  change,  for  whatever  purpose  de- 
sired ;  of  the  imperial  supremacy  of  strong  states  over  their 
weaker  neighbors  against  all  claims  for  political  independence, 
and  all  striving  for  separate  nationality.  She  has  crushed  the 
heroic  Hungarians ;  and  Austria,  for  whom  nominally  she 
crushed  them,  is  now  one  of  her  dependants.  Whether  the 
rumors  of  her  being  about  to  engage  in  fresh  enterprises  be  well 
or  ill  founded,  it  is  certain  that  recent  events  must  have  fear- 
fully augmented  the  power  of  the  Muscovite  empire,  which,  even 
previously,  had  been  the  object  of  well-founded  anxiety  to  all 
Western  Europe. 

It  was  truly  stated,  twelve  years  ago,  that  "  the  acquisitions 
which  Russia  has  made  within  the  [then]  last  sixty-four  years 


BATTLE  OF  PULTOWA.  283 

are  equal  in  extent  and  importance  to  the  whole  empire  she  had 
in  Europe  before  that  time ;  that  the  acquisitions  she  has  made 
from  Sweden  are  greater  than  what  remains  of  that  ancient  king- 
dom ;  that  her  acquisitions  from  Poland  are  as  large  as  the 
whole  Austrian  empire ;  that  the  territory  she  has  wrested  from 
Turkey  in  Europe  is  equal  to  the  dominions  of  Prussia,  exclu- 
sive of  her  Rhenish  provinces ;  and  that  her  acquisitions  from 
Turkey  in  Asia  are  equal  in  extent  to  all  the  smaller  states  of 
Germany,  the  Rhenish  provinces  of  Prussia,  Belgium,  and  Hol- 
land taken  together ;  that  the  country  she  has  conquered  from 
Persia  is  about  the  size  of  England;  that  her  acquisitions  in 
Tartary  have  an  area  equal  to  Turkey  in  Europe,  Greece,  Italy, 
and  Spain.  In  sixty-four  years  she  has  advanced  her  frontier 
eight  hundred  and  fifty  miles  towards  Vienna,  Berlin,  Dresden, 
Munich,  and  Paris ;  she  has  approached  four  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  nearer  to  Constantinople  ;  she  has  possessed  herself  of  the 
capital  of  Poland,  and  has  advanced  to  within  a  few  miles  of  the 
capital  of  Sweden,  from  which,  when  Peter  the  Great  mounted 
the  throne,  her  frontier  was  distant  three  hundred  miles.  Since 
that  time  she  has  stretched  herself  forward  about  one  thousand 
miles  towards  India,  and  the  same  distance  towards  the  capital 
of  Persia."  * 

Such,  at  that  period,  had  been  the  recent  aggrandizement  of 
Russia ;  and  the  events  of  the  last  few  years,  by  weakening  and 
disuniting  all  her  European  neighbors,  have  immeasurably  aug- 
mented the  relative  superiority  of  the  Muscovite  empire  over  all 
the  other  Continental  powers. 

With  a  population  exceeding  sixty  millions,  all  implicitly 
obeying  the  impulse  of  a  single  ruling  mind ;  with  a  territorial 
area  of  six  millions  and  a  half  of  square  miles  ;  with  a  standing 
army  eight  hundred  thousand  strong;  with  powerful  fleets  on 
the  Baltic  and  Black  seas;  with  a  skilful  host  of  diplomatic 
agents  planted  in  every  court  and  among  every  tribe ;  with  the 
confidence  which  unexpected  success  creates,  and  the  sagacity 
which  long  experience  fosters,  Russia  now  grasps  with  an  armed 
right  hand  the  tangled  thread  of  European  politics,  and  issues 
her  mandate  as  the  arbitress  of  the  movements  of  the  age.  Yet 
a  century  and  a  half  have  hardly  elapsed  since  she  was  first  rec- 
ognized as  a  member  of  the  drama  of  modern  European  history 
— previously  to  the  battle  of  Pultowa,  Russia  played  no  part. 
Charles  V.  and  his  great  rival,  our  Elizabeth  and  her  adversary, 

*  "  Progress  of  Russia  in  the  East,"  p.  142. 


284  BATTLE  OF  PULTOWA. 

Philip  of  Spain,  the  Guises,  Sully,  Richelieu,  Cromwell,  De  Witt, 
William  of  Orange,  and  the  other  leading  spirits  of  the  sixteenth 
and  seventeenth  centuries,  thought  no  more  about  the  Muscovite 
czar  than  we  now  think  about  the  King  of  Timbuctoo.  Even 
as  late  as  1735,  Lord  Bolingbroke,  in  his  admirable  "Letters  on 
History,"  speaks  of  the  history  of  the  Muscovites  as  having  no 
relation  to  the  knowledge  which  a  practical  English  statesman 
ought  to  acquire.*  It  may  be  doubted  whether  a  cabinet  coun- 
cil often  takes  place  now  in  our  Foreign  OflSce  without  Russia 
being  uppermost  in  every  English  statesman's  thoughts. 

But  though  Russia  remained  thus  long  unheeded  amid  her 
snows,  there  was  a  northern  power  the  influence  of  which  was 
acknowledged  in  the  principal  European  quarrels,  and  whose 
good-will  was  sedulously  courted  by  many  of  the  boldest  chiefs 
and  ablest  councillors  of  the  leading  states.  This  was  Sweden  ; 
Sweden,  on  whose  ruins  Russia  has  risen,  but  whose  ascen- 
dency over  her  semi-barbarous  neighbors  was  complete  until  the 
fatal  battle  that  now  forms  our  subject. 

As  early  as  1542  France  had  sought  the  alliance  of  Sweden  to 
aid  her  in  her  struggle  against  Charles  V.  And  the  name  of 
Gustavus  Adolphus  is  of  itself  sufficient  to  remind  us  that  in  the 
great  contest  for  religious  liberty,  of  which  Germany  was  for 
thirty  years  the  arena,  it  was  Sweden  that  rescued  the  falling 
cause  of  Protestantism ;  and  it  was  Sweden  that  principally  dic- 
tated the  remodelling  of  the  European  state-system  at  the  peace 
of  Westphalia. 

From  the  proud  pre-eminence  in  which  the  valor  of  the 
"  Lion  of  the  North,"  and  of  Torstenston,  Bannier,  Wrangel, 
and  the  other  generals  of  Gustavus,  guided  by  the  wisdom  of 
Oxenstiern,  had  placed  Sweden,  the  defeat  of  Charles  XIL  at 
Pultowa  hurled  her  down  at  once  and  forever.  Her  efforts  dur- 
ing the  wars  of  the  French  revolution  to  assume  a  leading  part 
in  European  politics  met  with  instant  discomfiture,  and  almost 
provoked  derision.  But  the  Sweden  whose  sceptre  was  be- 
queathed to  Christina,  and  whose  alliance  Cromwell  valued  so 
highly,  was  a  different  power  from  the  Sweden  of  the  present 
day.  Finland,  Ingria,  Livonia,  Esthonia,  Carelia,  and  other  dis- 
tricts east  of  the  Baltic,  then  were  Swedish  provinces;  and  the 
possession  of  Pomerania,  Rugen,  and  Bremen  made  her  an  im- 
portant member  of  the  Germanic  empire.     These  territories  are 

*  "  Bolingbroke's  Works,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  374,     In  the  same  page  he  observes 
how  Sweden  had  often  turned  her  arms  southward  with  prodigious  effect. 


BATTLE  OF  PULTOWA.  285 

now  all  reft  from  her ;  and  the  most  vahiable  of  them  form  the 
staple  of  her  victorious  rival's  strength.  Could  she  resume 
them,  could  the  Sweden  of  1648  be  reconstructed,  we  should 
have  a  first-class  Scandinavian  state  in  the  North,  well  qualified 
to  maintain  the  balance  of  power  and  check  the  progress  of 
Russia ;  whose  power,  indeed,  never  could  have  become  formi- 
dable to  Europe  save  by  Sweden  becoming  weak. 

The  decisive  triumph  of  Russia  over  Sweden  at  Pultowa  was 
therefore  all-important  to  the  world,  on  account  of  what  it  over- 
threw as  well  as  for  what  it  established ;  and  it  is  the  more 
deeply  interesting  because  it  was  not  merely  the  crisis  of  a 
struggle  between  two  states,  but  it  was  a  trial  of  strength  be- 
tween two  great  races  of  mankind.  We  must  bear  in  mind 
that  while  the  Swedes,  like  the  English,  the  Dutch,  and  others, 
belong  to  the  Germanic  race,  the  Russians  are  a  Sclavonic  peo- 
ple. Nations  of  Sclavonian  origin  have  long  occupied  the 
greater  part  of  Europe  eastward  of  the  Vistula,  and  the  popu- 
lations also  of  Bohemia,  Croatia,  Servia,  Dalmatia,  and  other 
important  regions  westward  of  that  river  are  Sclavonic.  In  the 
long  and  varied  conflicts  between  them  and  the  Germanic  nations 
that  adjoin  them,  the  Germanic  race  had,  before  Pultowa,  al- 
most always  maintained  a  superiority.  With  the  single  but  im- 
portant exception  of  Poland,  no  Sclavonic  state  had  made  any 
considerable  figure  in  history  before  the  time  when  Peter  the 
Great  won  his  great  victory  over  the  Swedish  king.*  What 
Russia  has  done  since  that  time  we  know  and  we  feel.  And 
some  of  the  wisest  and  best  men  of  our  own  age  and  nation,  who 
have  watched  with  deepest  care  the  annals  and  the  destinies  of 
humanity,  have  believed  that  the  Sclavonic  element  in  the  popu- 
lation of  Europe  has  as  yet  only  partially  developed  its  powers ; 
that,  while  other  races  of  mankind  (our  own,  the  Germanic,  in- 
cluded) have  exhausted  their  creative  energies,  and  completed 
their  allotted  achievements,  the  Sclavonic  race  has  yet  a  great 
career  to  run  ;  and  that  the  narrative  of  Sclavonic  ascendency  is 
the  remaining  page  that  will  conclude  the  history  of  the  world.f 

Let  it  not  be  supposed  that  in  thus  regarding  the  primary 
triumph  of  Russia  over  Sweden  as  a  victory  of  the  Sclavonic 
over  the  Germanic  race  we  are  dealing  with  matters  of  mere 
ethnological  pedantry,  or  with  themes  of  mere  speculative  curi- 
osity.    The  fact  that  Russia  is  a  Sclavonic  empire  is  a  fact  of 

*  The  Hussite  wars  may,  perhaps,  entitle  Bohemia  to  be  distinguished. 
f  See  Arnold's  *'  Lectures  on  Modern  History,"  pp.  36  to  39. 


286  BATTLE  OF  PULTOWA. 

immense  practical  influence  at  the  present  moment.  Half  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Austrian  empire  are  Sclavonian.  The  popu- 
lation of  the  larger  part  of  Turkey  in  Europe  is  of  the  same 
race.  Silesia,  Posen,  and  other  parts  of  the  Prussian  dominions 
are  principally  Sclavonic.  And  during  late  years  an  enthusias- 
tic zeal  for  blending  all  Sclavonians  into  one  great  united  Scla- 
vonic empire  has  been  growing  up  in  these  countries,  which, 
however  we  may  deride  its  principle,  is  not  the  less  real  and 
active,  and  of  which  Russia,  as  the  head  and  champion  of  the 
Sclavonic  race,  knows  well  how  to  take  her  advantage.* 

It  is  a  singular  fact  that  Russia  owes  her  very  name  to  a  band 
of  Swedish  invaders  who  conquered  her  a  thousand  years  ago. 
They  were  soon  absorbed  in  the  Sclavonic  population,  and  every 
trace  of  the  Swedish  character  had  disappeared  in  Russia  for 
many  centuries  before  her  invasion  by  Charles  XII.     She  was 


*  "  The  idea  of  Panslavism  had  a  purely  literary  origin.  It  was  started  by 
KoUar,  a  Protestant  clergyman  of  the  Sclavonic  congregation  at  Pesth,  in 
Hungary,  who  wished  to  establish  a  national  literature  by  circulating  all 
works  written  in  the  various  Sclavonic  dialects  through  every  country  where 
any  of  them  are  spoken.  He  suggested  that  all  the  Sclavonic  literati  should 
become  acquainted  with  the  sister  dialects,  so  that  a  Bohemian  or  other  work 
might  be  read  on  the  shores  of  the  Adriatic  as  well  as  on  the  banks  of  the 
Volga,  or  any  other  place  where  a  Sclavonic  language  was  spoken ;  by  which 
means  an  extensive  literature  might  be  created,  tending  to  advance  knowl- 
edge in  all  Sclavonic  countries ;  and  he  supported  his  arguments  by  observ- 
ing that  the  dialects  of  ancient  Greece  diifered  from  each  other,  like  those  of 
his  own  language,  and  yet  that  they  formed  only  one  Hellenic  literature. 
The  idea  of  an  intellectual  union  of  all  those  nations  naturally  led  to  that  of 
a  political  one ;  and  the  Sclavonians,  seeing  that  their  numbers  amounted  to 
about  one  third  part  of  the  whole  population  of  Europe,  and  occupied  more 
than  half  its  territory,  began  to  be  sensible  that  they  might  claim  for  them- 
selves a  position  to  which  they  had  not  hitherto  aspired. 

"  The  opinion  gained  ground  ;  and  the  question  now  is,  whether  the  Sclavo- 
nians  can  form  a  nation  independent  of  Russia ;  or  whether  they  ought  to  rest 
satisfied  in  being  part  of  one  great  race,  with  the  most  powerful  member  of  it 
as  their  chief.  The  latter,  indeed,  is  gaining  ground  among  them  ;  and  some 
Poles  are  disposed  to  attribute  their  sufferings  to  the  arbitrary  will  of  the 
czar,  without  extending  the  blame  to  the  Russians  themselves.  These  begin 
to  think  that  if  they  cannot  exist  as  Poles,  the  best  thing  to  be  done  is  to  rest 
satisfied  with  a  position  in  the  Sclavonic  empire ;  and  they  hope  that,  when 
once  they  give  up  the  idea  of  restoring  their  country,  Russia  may  grant  some 
concessions  to  their  separate  nationality. 

"  The  same  idea  has  been  put  forward  by  writers  in  the  Russian  interest ; 
great  efforts  are  making  among  other  Sclavonic  people  to  induce  them  to 
look  upon  Russia  as  their  future  head ;  and  she  has  already  gained  consider- 
able influence  over  the  Sclavonic  populations  of  Turkey."  —  Wilkinson's  Dal- 
matia. 


BATTLE  OF  PULTOWA.  287 

long  the  victim  and  the  slave  of  the  Tartars ;  and  for  many  con- 
siderable periods  of  years  the  Poles  held  her  in  subjugation. 
Indeed,  if  we  except  the  expeditions  of  some  of  the  early  Rus- 
sian chiefs  against  Byzantium,  and  the  reign  of  Ivan  Vasilovitch, 
the  history  of  Russia  before  the  time  of  Peter  the  Great  is  one 
long  tale  of  suffering  and  degradation. 

But  whatever  may  have  been  the  amount  of  national  injuries 
that  she  sustained  from  Swede,  from  Tartar,  or  from  Pole  in  the 
ages  of  her  weakness,  she  has  certainly  retaliated  tenfold  dur- 
ing the  century  and  a  half  of  her  strength.  Her  rapid  transition 
at  the  commencement  of  that  period  from  being  the  prey  of 
every  conqueror  to  being  the  conqueror  of  all  with  whom  she 
comes  into  contact,  to  being  the  oppressor  instead  of  the  op- 
pressed, is  almost  without  a  parallel  in  the  history  of  nations. 
It  was  the  work  of  a  single  ruler ;  who,  himself  without  educa- 
tion, promoted  science  and  literature  among  barbaric  millions; 
who  gave  them  fleets,  commerce,  arts,  and  arms ;  who,  at  Pul- 
towa,  taught  them  to  face  and  beat  the  previously  invincible 
Swedes ;  and  who  made  stubborn  valor  and  implicit  subordina- 
tion from  that  time  forth  the  distinguishing  characteristics  of 
the  Russian  soldiery,  which  had  before  his  time  been  a  mere 
disorderly  and  irresolute  rabble. 

The  career  of  Philip  of  Macedon  resembles  most  nearly  that 
of  the  great  Muscovite  czar ;  but  there  is  this  important  differ- 
ence, that  Philip  had,  while  young,  received  in  Southern  Greece 
the  best  education  in  all  matters  of  peace  and  war  that  the 
ablest  philosophers  and  generals  of  the  age  could  bestow.  Pe- 
ter was  brought  up  among  barbarians,  and  in  barbaric  ignorance. 
He  strove  to  remedy  this  when  a  grown  man,  by  leaving  all  the 
temptations  to  idleness  and  sensuality  which  his  court  offered 
and  by  seeking  instruction  abroad.  He  labored  with  his  own 
hands  as  a  common  artisan  in  Holland  and  in  England,  that  he 
might  return  and  teach  his  subjects  how  ships,  commerce,  and 
civilization  could  be  acquired.  There  is  a  degree  of  heroism 
here  superior  to  anything  that  we  know  of  in  the  Macedonian 
king.  But  Philip's  consolidation  of  the  long  disunited  Mace- 
donian empire ;  his  raising  a  people  which  he  found  the  scorn 
of  their  civilized  southern  neighbors  to  be  their  dread;  his 
organization  of  a  brave  and  well-disciplined  army,  instead  of  a 
disorderly  militia ;  his  creation  of  a  maritime  force,  and  his 
systematic  skill  in  acquiring  and  improving  seaports  and  ar- 
senals; his  patient  tenacity  of  purpose  under  reverses;  his 
personal  bravery,  and  even  his  proneness  to  coarse  amusements 


288  BATTLE  OF  PULTOWA. 

and  pleasures— all  mark  him  out  as  the  prototype  of  the  im- 
perial founder  of  the  Russian  power.  In  justice,  however,  to 
the  ancient  hero,  it  ought  to  be  added  that  we  find  in  the  his- 
tory of  Philip  no  examples  of  that  savage  cruelty  which  deforms 
so  grievously  the  character  of  Peter  the  Great. 

In  considering  the  effects  of  the  overthrow  which  the  Swedish 
arms  sustained  at  Pultowa,  and  in  speculating  on  the  probable 
consequences  that  would  have  followed  if  the  invaders  had  been 
successful,  we  must  not  only  bear  in  mind  the  wretched  state  in 
which  Peter  found  Russia  at  his  accession,  compared  with  her 
present  grandeur,  but  we  must  also  keep  in  view  the  fact  that, 
at  the  time  when  Pultowa  was  fought,  his  reforms  were  yet  in- 
complete, and  his  new  institutions  immature.  He  had  broken 
up  the  old  Russia ;  and  the  new  Russia,  which  he  ultimately 
created,  was  still  in  embryo.  Had  he  been  crushed  at  Pultowa, 
his  mighty  schemes  would  have  been  buried  with  him ;  and  (to 
use  the  words  of  Voltaire)  "  the  most  extensive  empire  in  the 
world  would  have  relapsed  into  the  chaos  from  which  it  had 
been  so  lately  taken."  It  is  this  fact  that  makes  the  repulse  of 
Charles  XII.  the  critical  point  in  the  fortunes  of  Russia.  The 
danger  which  she  incurred  a  century  afterwards  from  her  inva- 
sion by  Napoleon  was  in  reality  far  less  than  her  peril  when 
Charles  attacked  her ;  though  the  French  emperor,  as  a  mili- 
tary genius,  was  infinitely  superior  to  the  Swedish  king,  and 
led  a  host  against  her  compared  with  which  the  armies  of 
Charles  seem  almost  insignificant.  But,  as  Fouche  well  warned 
his  imperial  master,  when  he  vainly  endeavored  to  dissuade  him 
from  his  disastrous  expedition  against  the  empire  of  the  czars, 
the  difference  between  the  Russia  of  1812  and  the  Russia  of 
1709  was  greater  than  the  disparity  between  the  power  of 
Charles  and  the  might  of  Napoleon.  "  If  that  heroic  king," 
said  Fouche,  "  had  not,  like  your  imperial  majesty,  half  Europe 
in  arms  to  back  him,  neither  had  his  opponent,  the  Czar  Peter, 
400,000  soldiers  and  50,000  Cossacks."  The  historians  who 
describe  the  state  of  the  Muscovite  empire  when  revolutionary 
and  imperial  France  encountered  it  narrate  with  truth  and  jus- 
tice how  "  at  the  epoch  of  the  French  Revolution  this  immense 
empire,  comprehending  nearly  half  of  Europe  and  Asia  within 
its  dominions,  inhabited  by  a  patient  and  indomitable  race,  ever 
ready  to  exchange  the  luxury  and  adventure  of  the  south  for 
the  hardships  and  monotony  .of  the  north,  was  daily  becoming 
more  formidable  to  the  liberties  of  Europe.  The  Russian  in- 
fantry had  then  long  been  celebrated  for  its  immovable  firm- 


BATTLE  OF  PULTOWA.  289 

ness.  Her  immense  population,  amounting  then  in  Europe 
alone  to  nearly  thirty-five  millions,  afforded  an  inexhaustible 
supply  of  men.  Her  soldiers,  inured  to  heat  and  cold  from 
their  infancy,  and  actuated  by  a  blind  devotion  to  their  czar, 
united  the  steady  valor  of  the  English  to  the  impetuous  energy 
of  the  French  troops."  *  So,  also,  we  read  how  the  haughty 
aggressions  of  Bonaparte  "went  to  excite  a  national  feeling, 
from  the  banks  of  the  Borysthenes  to  the  wall  of  China,  and 
to  unite  against  him  the  wild  and  uncivilized  inhabitants  of  an 
extended  empire,  possessed  by  a  love  to  their  religion,  their 
government,  and  their  country,  and  having  a  character  of  stern 
devotion,  which  he  was  incapable  of  estimating."  f  But  the 
Russia  of  1709  had  no  such  forces  to  oppose  an  assailant.  Her 
whole  population  then  was  below  sixteen  millions ;  and,  what 
is  far  more  important,  this  population  had  acquired  neither  mili- 
tary spirit  nor  strong  nationality ;  nor  was  it  united  in  loyal 
attachment  to  its  ruler. 

Peter  had  wisely  abolished  the  old  regular  troops  of  the  em- 
pire, the  Strelitzes  ;  but  the  forces  which  he  had  raised  in  their 
stead  on  a  new  and  foreign  plan,  and  principally  officered  with 
foreigners,  had,  before  the  Swedish  invasion,  given  no  proof 
that  they  could  be  relied  on.  In  numerous  encounters  with  the 
Swedes,  Peter's  soldiery  had  run  like  sheep  before  inferior  num- 
bers. Great  discontent,  also,  had  been  excited  among  all  classes 
of  the  community  by  the  arbitrary  changes  which  their  great 
emperor  introduced,  many  of  which  clashed  with  the  most  cher- 
ished national  prejudices  of  his  subjects.  A  career  of  victory 
and  prosperity  had  not  yet  raised  Peter  above  the  reach  of  that 
disaffection,  nor  had  superstitious  obedience  to  the  czar  yet 
become  the  characteristic  of  the  Muscovite  mind.  The  victori- 
ous occupation  of  Moscow  by  Charles  XH.  would  have  quelled 
the  Russian  nation  as  effectually  as  had  been  the  case  when 
Baton  Khan,  and  other  ancient  invaders,  captured  the  capital 
of  primitive  Muscovy.  How  little  such  a  triumph  could  effect 
towards  subduing  modern  Russia,  the  fate  of  Napoleon  demon- 
strated at  once  and  forever. 

The  character  of  Charles  XH.  has  been  a  favorite  theme  with 
historians,  moralists,  philosophers,  and  poets.  But  it  is  his 
military  conduct  during  the  campaign  in  Russia  that  alone  re- 
quires comment  here.  Napoleon,  in  the  memoirs  dictated  by 
him  at  St.  Helena,  has  given  us  a  systematic  criticism  on  that, 

*  Alison,  f  Scott'i  "  Life  of  Napoleon." 


290  BATTLE  OF  PULTOWA. 

among  other  celebrated  campaigns,  his  own  Russian  campaign 
included.  He  labors  hard  to  prove  that  he  himself  observed 
all  the  true  principles  of  offensive  war;  and  probably  his  cen- 
sures of  Charles's  generalship  were  rather  highly  colored,  for 
the  sake  of  making  his  own  military  skill  stand  out  in  more 
favorable  relief.  Yet,  after  making  all  allowances,  we  must 
admit  the  force  of  Napoleon's  strictures  on  Charles's  tactics, 
and  own  that  his  judgment,  though  severe,  is  correct,  when  he 
pronounces  that  the  Swedish  king,  unlike  his  great  predecessor 
Gustavus,  knew  nothing  of  the  art  of  war,  and  was  nothing 
more  than  a  brave  and  intrepid  soldier.  Such,  however,  was 
not  the  light  in  which  Charles  was  regarded  by  his  contempo- 
raries at  the  commencement  of  his  Russian  expedition.  His 
numerous  victories,  his  daring  and  resolute  spirit,  combined  with 
the  ancient  renown  of  the  Swedish  arms,  then  filled  all  Europe 
with  admiration  and  anxiety.  As  Johnson  expresses  it,  his 
name  was  then  one  at  which  the  world  grew  pale.  Even  Louis 
le  Grand  earnestly  solicited  his  assistance ;  and  our  own  Marl- 
borough, then  in  the  full  career  of  his  victories,  was  specially 
sent  by  the  English  court  to  the  camp  of  Charles,  to  propitiate 
the  hero  of  the  North  in  favor  of  the  cause  of  the  Allies,  and  to 
prevent  the  Swedish  sword  from  being  flung  into  the  scale  in 
the  French  king's  favor.  But  Charles  at  that  time  was  solely 
bent  on  dethroning  the  sovereign  of  Russia,  as  he  had  already 
dethroned  the  sovereign  of  Poland,  and  all  Europe  fully  be- 
lieved that  he  would  entirely  crush  the  czar,  and  dictate  con- 
ditions of  peace  in  the  Kremlin.*  Charles  himself  looked  on 
success  as  a  matter  of  certainty  ;  and  the  romantic  extravagance 
of  his  views  was  continually  increasing.  "One  year,  he  thought, 
would  suffice  for  the  conquest  of  Russia.  The  court  of  Rome 
was  next  to  feel  his  vengeance,  as  the  pope  had  dared  to  oppose 
the  concession  of  religious  liberty  to  the  Silesian  Protestants. 
No  enterprise  at  that  time  appeared  impossible  to  him.  He 
had  even  despatched  several  officers  privately  into  Asia  and 
Egypt  to  take  plans  of  the  towns  and  examine  into  the  strength 
and  resources  of  those  countries."  f 

Napoleon  thus  epitomizes  the  earlier  operations  of  Charles's 
invasion  of  Russia : 

"  That  prince  set  out  from  his  camp  at  Aldstadt,  near  Leipsic, 

*  Voltaire  attests,  from  personal  inspection  of  the  letters  of  several  public 
ministers  to  their  respective  courts,  that  such  was  the  general  expectation. 
f  Crighton'a  "  Scandinavia." 


BATTLE  OF  PULTOWA.  291 

in  September,  1707,  at  the  head  of  45,000  men,  and  traversed 
Poland  ;  20,000  men,  under  Count  Lewenhaupt,  disembarked  at 
Riga,  and  15,000  were  in  Finland.  He  was  therefore  in  a  con- 
dition to  have  brought  together  80,000  of  the  best  troops  in 
the  world.  He  left  10,000  men  at  Warsaw  to  guard  King  Stan- 
islaus, and  in  January,  1708,  arrived  at  Grodno,  where  he  win- 
tered. In  June,  he  crossed  the  forest  of  Minsk,  and  presented 
himself  before  Borisov ;  forced  the  Russian  army  which  occu- 
pied the  left  bank  of  the  Beresina ;  defeated  20,000  Russians 
who  were  strongly  intrenched  behind  marshes ;  passed  the 
Borysthenes  at  Mohiloev,  and  vanquished  a  corps  of  16,000 
Muscovites  near  Smolensko,  on  the  22d  of  September.  He  was 
now  advanced  to  the  confines  of  Lithuania,  and  was  about  to 
enter  Russia  Proper.  The  czar,  alarmed  at  his  approach,  made 
him  proposals  of  peace.  Up  to  this  time  all  his  movements 
were  conformable  to  rule,  and  his  communications  were  well 
secured.  He  was  master  of  Poland  and  Riga,  and  only  ten 
days'  march  distant  from  Moscow  ;  and  it  is  probable  that  he 
would  have  reached  that  capital,  had  he  not  quitted  the  high- 
road thither  and  directed  his  steps  towards  the  Ukraine,  in 
order  to  form  a  junction  with  Mazeppa,  who  brought  him  only 
6000  men.  By  this  movement  his  line  of  operations,  beginning 
at  Sweden,  exposed  his  flank  to  Russia  for  a  distance  of  four 
hundred  leagues,  and  he  was  unable  to  protect  it,  or  to  receive 
either  reinforcements  or  assistance." 

Napoleon  severely  censures  this  neglect  of  one  of  the  great 
rules  of  war.  He  points  out  that  Charles  had  not  organized  his 
war  like  Hannibal,  on  the  principle  of  relinquishing  all  commu- 
nications with  home,  keeping  all  his  forces  concentrated,  and 
creating  a  base  of  operations  in  the  conquered  country.  Such 
had  been  the  bold  system  of  the  Carthaginian  general ;  but 
Charles  acted  on  no  such  principle,  inasmuch  as  he  caused 
Lewenhaupt,  one  of  his  generals  who  commanded  a  considera- 
ble detachment,  and  escorted  a  most  important  convoy,  to  fol- 
low him  at  a  distance  of  twelve  days'  march.  By  this  disloca- 
tion of  his  forces  he  exposed  Lewenhaupt  to  be  overwhelmed 
separately  by  the  full  force  of  the  enemy,  and  deprived  the 
troops  under  his  own  command  of  the  aid  which  that  general's 
men  and  stores  might  have  afforded  at  the  very  crisis  of  the 
campaign. 

The  czar  had  collected  an  army  of  about  a  hundred  thousand 
effective  men ;  and  though  the  Swedes  in  the  beginning  of  the 
invasion  were  successful  in  every  encounter,  the  Russian  troops 


292  BATTLE  OF  PULTOWA. 

were  gradually  acquiring  discipline ;  and  Peter  and  his  officers 
were  learning  generalship  from  their  victors,  as  the  Thebans  of 
old  learned  it  from  the  Spartans.  When  Lewenhaupt,  in  the 
October  of  1708,  was  striving  to  join  Charles  in  the  Ukraine, 
the  czar  suddenly  attacked  him  near  the  Borysthenes  with  an 
overwhelming  force  of  fifty  thousand  Russians.  Lewenhaupt 
fought  bravely  for  three  days,  and  succeeded  in  cutting  his  way 
through  the  enemy,  with  about  four  thousand  of  his  men,- to 
where  Charles  awaited  him  near  the  river  Desna ;  but  upwards 
of  eight  thousand  Swedes  fell  in  these  battles ;  Lewenhaupt's 
cannon  and  ammunition  were  abandoned ;  and  the  whole  of  his 
important  convoy  of  provisions,  on  which  Charles  and  his  half- 
starved  troops  were  relying,  fell  into  the  enemy's  hands.  Charles 
was  compelled  to  remain  in  the  Ukraine  during  the  winter ;  but 
in  the  spring  of  l709  he  moved  forward  towards  Moscow,  and 
invested  the  fortified  town  of  Pultowa,  on  the  river  Vorskla,  a 
place  where  the  czar  had  stored  up  large  supplies  of  provisions 
and  military  stores,  and  which  commanded  the  roads  leading 
towards  Moscow.  The  possession  of  this  place  would  have 
given  Charles  the  means  of  supplying  all  the  wants  of  his  suf- 
fering army,  and  would  also  have  furnished  him  wuth  a  secure 
base  of  operations  for  his  advance  against  the  Muscovite  capi- 
tal. The  siege  was  therefore  hotly  pressed  by  the  Swedes ;  the 
garrison  resisted  obstinately ;  and  the  czar,  feeling  the  impor- 
tance of  saving  the  town,  advanced  in  June  to  its  relief,  at  the 
head  of  an  army  from  fifty  to  sixty  thousand  strong. 

Both  sovereigns  now  prepared  for  the  general  action,  which 
each  perceived  to  be  inevitable,  and  which  each  felt  would  be 
decisive  of  his  own  and  of  his  country's  destiny.  The  czar,  by 
some  masterly  manoeuvres,  crossed  the  Vorskla,  and  posted  his 
army  on  the  same  side  of  that  river  with  the  besiegers,  but  a 
little  higher  up.  The  Vorskla  falls  into  the  Borysthenes  about 
fifteen  leagues  below  Pultowa,  and  the  czar  arranged  his  forces 
in  two  lines,  stretching  from  one  river  towards  the  other;  so 
that  if  the  Swedes  attacked  him  and  were  repulsed,  they  would 
be  driven  backwards  into  the  acute  angle  formed  by  the  two 
streams  at  their  junction.  He  fortified  these  lines  with  several 
redoubts,  lined  with  heavy  artillery ;  and  his  troops,  both  horse 
and  foot,  were  in  the  best  possible  condition,  and  amply  pro- 
vided with  stores  and  ammunition.  Charles's  forces  were  about 
twenty-four  thousand  strong.-  But  not  more  than  half  of  these 
were  Swedes;  so  much  had  battle,  famine,  fatigue,  and  the 
deadly  frosts  of  Russia  thinned  the  gallant  bands  which  the 


BATTLE  OF  PULTOWA.  293 

Swedish  king  and  Lewenhaupt  had  led  to  the  Ukraine.  The 
other  twelve  thousand  men  under  Charles  were  Cossacks  and 
Wallachians,  who  had  joined  him  in  that  country.  On  hearing 
that  the  czar  was  about  to  attack  him,  he  deemed  that  his  dig- 
nity required  that  he  himself  should  be  the  assailant ;  and,  lead- 
ing his  army  out  of  their  intrenched  lines  before  the  town,  he 
advanced  with  them  against  the  Russian  redoubts. 

He  had  been  severely  wounded  in  the  foot  in  a  skirmish  a 
few  days  before ;  and  was  borne  in  a  litter  along  the  ranks,  into 
the  thick  of  the  fight.  Notwithstanding  the  fearful  disparity 
of  numbers  and  disadvantage  of  position,  the  Swedes  never 
showed  their  ancient  valor  more  nobly  than  on  that  dreadful 
day.  Nor  do  their  Cossack  and  Wallachian  allies  seem  to  have 
been  unworthy  of  fighting  side  by  side  with  Charles's  veterans. 
Two  of  the  Russian  redoubts  were  actually  entered,  and  the 
Swedish  infantry  began  to  raise  the  cry  of  victory.  But  on  the 
other  side,  neither  general  nor  soldiers  flinched  in  their  duty. 
The  Russian  cannonade  and  musketry  were  kept  up ;  fresh 
masses  of  defenders  were  poured  into  the  fortifications,  and  at 
length  the  exhausted  remnants  of  the  Swedish  columns  recoiled 
from  the  blood-stained  redoubts.  Then  the  czar  led  the  infan- 
try and  cavalry  of  his  first  line  outside  the  works,  drew  them 
up  steadily  and  skilfully,  and  the  action  was  renewed  along  the 
whole  fronts  of  the  two  armies  on  the  open  ground.  Each  sov- 
ereign exposed  his  life  freely  in  the  world-winning  battle ;  and 
on  each  side  the  troops  fought  obstinately  and  eagerly  under 
their  ruler's  eye.  It  was  not  till  two  hours  from  the  commence- 
ment of  the  action  that,  overpowered  by  numbers,  the  hitherto 
invincible  Swedes  gave  way.  All  was  then  hopeless  disorder 
and  irreparable  rout.  Driven  downward  to  where  the  rivers 
join,  the  fugitive  Swedes  surrendered  to  their  victorious  pur- 
suers, or  perished  in  the  waters  of  the  Borysthenes.  Only  a 
few  hundreds  swam  that  river  with  their  king  and  the  Cossack 
Mazeppa,  and  escaped  into  the  Turkish  territory.  Nearly  ten 
thousand  lay  killed  and  wounded  in  the  redoubts  and  on  the 
field  of  battle. 

In  the  joy  of  his  heart  the  czar  exclaimed,  when  the  strife 
was  over,  "  that  the  son  of  the  morning  had  fallen  from  heaven ; 
and  that  the  foundations  of  St.  Petersburg  at  length  stood  firm." 
Even  on  that  battle-field,  near  the  Ukraine,  the  Russian  emper- 
or's first  thoughts  were  of  conquests  and  aggrandizement  of  the 
Baltic.  The  peace  of  Nystadt,  which  transferred  the  fairest 
provinces  of  Sweden  to  Russia,  ratified  the  judgment  of  battle 


294  BATTLE  OF  PULTOWA. 

which  was  pronounced  at  Pultowa.  Attacks  on  Turkey  and 
Persia  by  Russia  commenced  almost  directly  after  that  victory. 
And  though  the  czar  failed  in  his  first  attempts  against  the  sultan, 
the  successors  of  Peter  have,  one  and  all,  carried  on  a  uniformly 
aggressive  and  uniformly  successful  system  of  policy  against  Tur- 
key, and  against  every  other  state,  Asiatic  as  well  as  European, 
which  has  had  the  misfortune  of  having  Russia  for  a  neighbor. 
Orators  and  authors  who  have  discussed  the  progress  of  Rus- 
sia have  often  alluded  to  the  similitude  between  the  modern 
extension  of  the  Muscovite  empire  and  the  extension  of  the  Ro- 
man dominions  in  ancient  times.  But  attention  has  scarcely 
been  drawn  to  the  closeness  of  the  parallel  between  conquering 
Russia  and  conquering  Rome,  not  only  in  the  extent  of  con- 
quests, but  in  the  means  of  effecting  conquest.  The  history  of 
Rome  during  the  century  and  a  half  which  followed  the  close  of 
the  second  Punic  war,  and  during  which  her  largest  acquisitions 
of  territory  were  made,  should  be  minutely  compared  with  the 
history  of  Russia  for  the  last  one  hundred  and  fifty  years.  The 
main  points  of  similitude  can  only  be  indicated  in  these  pages ; 
but  they  deserve  the  fullest  consideration.  Above  all,  the  sixth 
chapter  of  Montesquieu's  great  treatise  on  Rome,  the  chapter 
"  De  la  conduite  que  les  Romains  tinrent  pour  soumettre  les  peu- 
pleSy''  should  be  carefully  studied  by  every  one  who  watches  the 
career  and  policy  of  Russia.  The  classic  scholar  will  remember 
the  statecraft  of  the  Roman  senate,  which  took  care  in  every 
foreign  war  to  appear  in  the  character  of  a  Protector.  Thus 
Rome  protected  the  ^tolians  and  the  Greek  cities  against  Mac- 
edon;  she  protected  Bithynia  and  other  small  Asiatic  states 
against  the  Syrian  kings ;  she  protected  Numidia  against  Car- 
thage ;  and  in  numerous  other  instances  assumed  the  same  spe- 
cious character.  But  "  woe  to  the  people  whose  liberty  de- 
pends on  the  continued  forbearance  of  an  over-mighty  pro- 
tector."* Every  state  which  Rome  protected  was  ultimately 
subjugated  and  absorbed  by  her.  And  Russia  has  been  the 
protector  of  Poland,  the  protector  of  the  Crimea,  the  protector 
of  Courland,  the  protector  of  Georgia,  Immeritia,  Mingrelia,  the 
Tcherkessian  and  Caucasian  tribes.  She  has  first  protected  and 
then  appropriated  them  all.  She  protects  Moldavia  and  Wal- 
lachia.  A  few  years  ago  she  became  the  protector  of  Turkey 
from  Mehemet  Ali ;  and  since  the  summer  of  1849  she  has  made 
herself  the  protector  of  Austria. 

*  Malkin's  "  History  of  Greece." 


BATTLE  OF  PULTOWA.  295 

When  the  partisans  of  Russia  speak  of  the  disinterestedness 
with  which  she  withdrew  her  protecting  troops  from  Constanti- 
nople and  from  Hungary,  let  us  here  also  mark  the  ominous 
exactness  of  the  parallel  between  her  and  Rome.  While  the  an- 
cient world  yet  contained  a  number  of  independent  states,  which 
might  have  made  a  formidable  league  against  Rome  if  she  had 
alarmed  them  by  openly  avowing  her  ambitious  schemes,  Rome's 
favorite  policy  was  seeming  disinterestedness  and  moderation. 
After  her  first  war  against  Philip,  after  that  against  Antiochus, 
and  many  others,  victorious  Rome  promptly  withdrew  her  troops 
from  the  territories  which  they  occupied.  She  affected  to  em- 
ploy her  arms  only  for  the  good  of  others ;  but,  when  the  favor- 
able moment  came,  she  always  found  a  pretext  for  marching  her 
legions  back  into  each  coveted  district,  and  making  it  a  Roman 
province.  Fear,  not  moderation,  is  the  only  effective  check  on 
the  ambition  of  such  powers  as  Ancient  Rome  and  Modern  Rus- 
sia. The  amount  of  that  fear  depends  on  the  amount  of  timely 
vigilance  and  energy  which  other  states  choose  to  employ  against 
the  common  enemy  of  their  freedom  and  national  independence. 

SYNOPSIS  OF  EVENTS  BETWEEN  THE  BATTLE  OF  PULTOWA, 
1709,  AND  THE  DEFEAT  OF  BURGOYNE  AT  SARATOGA,  1111. 

A.D.  1713.  Treaty  of  Utrecht.  Philip  is  left  by  it  in  posses- 
sion of  the  throne  of  Spain.  But  Naples,  Milan,  the  Spanish 
territories  on  the  Tuscan  coast,  the  Spanish  Netherlands,  and 
some  parts  of  the  French  Netherlands  are  given  to  Austria. 
France  cedes  to  England  Hudson's  Bay  and  Straits,  the  island 
of  St.  Christopher,  Nova  Scotia,  and  Newfoundland  in  America. 
Spain  cedes  to  England  Gibraltar  and  Minorca,  which  the  Eng- 
lish had  taken  during  the  war.  The  King  of  Prussia  and  the 
Duke  of  Savoy  both  obtain  considerable  additions  of  territory 
to  their  dominions. 

1714.  Death  of  Queen  Anne.  The  House  of  Hanover  begins 
to  reign  in  England.  A  rebellion  in  favor  of  the  Stuarts  is  put 
down.     Death  of  Louis  XIV. 

1718.  Charles  XII.  killed  at  the  siege  of  Frederickshall. 

1725.  Death  of  Peter  the  Great  of  Russia. 

1740.  Frederick  II.,  King  of  Prussia,  begins  his  reign.  He 
attacks  the  Austrian  dominions,  and  conquers  Silesia. 

1742.  War  between  France  and  England. 

1743.  Victory  of  the  English  at  Dettingen. 

1745.  Victory  of  the  French  at  Fontenoy.    Rebellion  in  Scot- 


296  BATTLE  OF  PULTOWA. 

land  in  favor  of  the  House  of  Stuart ;  finally  quelled  by  the  bat- 
tle of  Culloden  in  the  next  year. 

1748.  Peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle. 

1V56  to  1763.  The  Seven  Years*  War,  during  which  Prussia 
makes  an  heroic  resistance  against  the  armies  of  Austria,  Russia, 
and  France.  England,  under  the  administration  of  the  elder 
Pitt  (afterwards  Lord  Chatham),  takes  a  glorious  part  in  the 
war  in  opposition  to  France  and  Spain.  Wolfe  wins  the  battle 
of  Quebec,  and  the  English  conquer  Canada,  Cape  Breton,  and 
St  John.  Clive  begins  his  career  of  conquest  in  India.  Cuba 
is  taken  by  the  English  from  Spain. 

1763.  Treaty  of  Paris,  which  leaves  the  power  of  Prussia  in- 
creased and  its  military  reputation  greatly  exalted. 

"  France,  by  the  treaty  of  Paris,  ceded  to  England  Canada 
and  the  island  of  Cape  Breton,  with  the  islands  and  coasts  of 
the  gulf  and  river  of  St.  Lawrence.  The  boundaries  between 
the  two  nations  in  North  America  were  fixed  by  a  line  drawn 
along  the  middle  of  the  Mississippi,  from  its  source  to  its  mouth. 
All  on  the  left  or  eastern  bank  of  that  river  was  given  up  to 
England,  except  the  city  of  New  Orleans,  which  was  reserved  to 
France ;  as  was  also  the  liberty  of  the  fisheries  on  a  part  of  the 
coasts  of  Newfoundland  and  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  The  isl- 
ands of  St.  Peter  and  Miquelon  were  given  them  as  a  shelter  for 
their  fishermen,  but  without  permission  to  raise  fortifications. 
The  islands  of  Martinique,  Guadeloupe,  Marie  Galante,  Desirade, 
and  St.  Lucia  were  surrendered  to  France ;  while  Grenada,  the 
Grenadines,  St.  Vincent,  Dominica,  and  Tobago  were  ceded  to 
England.  This  latter  power  retained  her  conquests  on  the  Sene- 
gal, and  restored  to  France  the  island  of  Goree,  on  the  coast  of 
Africa.  France  was  put  in  possession  of  the  forts  and  factories 
which  belonged  to  her  in  the  East  Indies,  on  the  coasts  of  Coro- 
mandel,  Orissa,  Malabar,  and  Bengal,  under  the  restriction  of 
keeping  up  no  military  force  in  Bengal. 

"  In  Europe,  France  restored  all  the  conquests  she  had  made 
in  Germany ;  as  also  the  island  of  Minorca.  England  gave  up 
to  her  Belleisle,  on  the  coast  of  Brittany ;  while  Dunkirk  was 
kept  in  the  same  condition  as  had  been  determined  by  the  peace 
of  Aix-la-Chapelle.  The  island  of  Cuba,  with  the  Havannah, 
was  restored  to  the  King  of  Spain,  who,  on  his  part,  ceded  to 
England  Florida,  with  Port  Augustine  and  the  Bay  of  Pensacola. 
The  King  of  Portugal  was  restored  to  the  same  state  in  which  he 
had  been  before  the  war.  The  colony  of  St.  Sacrament  in  Amer- 
ica, which  the  Spaniards  had  conquered,  was  given  back  to  him. 


BATTLE  OF  PULTOWA.  297 

"  The  peace  of  Paris,  of  which  we  have  just  now  spoken,  was 
the  era  of  England's  greatest  prosperity.  Her  commerce  and 
navigation  extended  over  all  parts  of  the  globe,  and  were  sup- 
ported by  a  naval  force  so  much  the  more  imposing,  as  it  was  no 
longer  counterbalanced  by  the  maritime  power  of  France,  which 
had  been  almost  annihilated  in  the  preceding  war.  The  immense 
territories  which  that  peace  had  secured  her,  both  in  Africa  and 
America,  opened  up  new  channels  for  her  industry :  and  what 
deserves  specially  to  be  remarked  is,  that  she  acquired  at  the 
same  time  vast  and  important  possessions  in  the  East  Indies."  * 

♦  Koch's  "  Revolutions  of  Europe." 


298  VICTORY  OF  THE  AMERICANS 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

VICTORY    OF   THE    AMERICANS    OVER    BURGOYNE    AT    SARATOGA, 
A.D.  1777. 

"Westward  the  course  of  empire  takes  its  way; 
The  first  four  acts  already  past, 
A  fifth  shall  close  the  drama  with  the  day: 
Time's  noblest  offspring  is  its  last." 

Bishop  Berkeley. 

"  Even  of  those  great  conflicts,  in  which  hundreds  of  thousands  have  been 
engaged  and  tens  of  thousands  have  fallen,  none  has  been  more  fruitful  of 
results  than  this  surrender  of  thirty- five  hundred  fighting-men  at  Saratoga. 
It  not  merely  changed  the  relations  of  England  and  the  feelings  of  Europe 
towards  these  insurgent  colonies,  but  it  has  modified,  for  all  time  to  come, 
the  connection  between  every  colony  and  every  parent  state." — Lord  Mahon. 

Of  the  four  great  powers  that  now  principally  rule  the  politi- 
cal destinies  of  the  world,  France  and  England  are  the  only  two 
whose  influence  can  be  dated  back  beyond  the  last  century  and 
a  half.  The  third  great  power,  Russia,  was  a  feeble  mass  of 
barbarism  before  the  epoch  of  Peter  the  Great ;  and  the  very 
existence  of  the  fourth  great  power,  as  an  independent  nation, 
commenced  within  the  memory  of  living  men.  By  the  fourth 
great  power  of  the  world  I  mean  the  mighty  commonwealth  of 
the  western  continent,  which  now  commands  the  admiration  of 
mankind.  That  homage  is  sometimes  reluctantly  given,  and  ac- 
companied with  suspicion  and  ill-will.  But  none  can  refuse  it. 
All  the  physical  essentials  for  national  strength  are  undeniably 
to  be  found  in  the  geographical  position  and  amplitude  of  ter- 
ritory which  the  United  States  possess :  in  their  almost  inex- 
haustible tracts  of  fertile  but  hitherto  untouched  soil ;  in  their 
stately  forests,  in  their  mountain-chains  and  their  rivers,  their 
beds  of  coal,  and  stores  of  metallic  wealth ;  in  their  extensive 
seaboard  along  the  waters  of  two  oceans,  and  in  their  already 
numerous  and  rapidly  increasing  population.  And  when  we 
examine  the  character  of  this  population,  no  one  can  look  on  the 
fearless  energy,  the  sturdy  determination,  the  aptitude  for  local 
self-government,  the  versatile  alacrity,  and  the  unresting  spirit 


AT  SARATOGA.  299 

of  enterprise  which  characterize  the  Anglo-Americans  without 
feeling  that  he  here  beholds  the  true  moral  elements  of  progres- 
sive might. 

Three  quarters  of  a  century  have  not  yet  passed  away  since 
the  United  States  ceased  to  be  mere  dependencies  of  England. 
And  even  if  we  date  their  origin  from  the  period  when  the  first 
permanent  European  settlements,  out  of  which  they  grew,  were 
made  on  the  western  coast  of  the  North  Atlantic,  the  increase 
of  their  strength  is  unparalleled,  either  in  rapidity  or  extent. 

The  ancient  Roman  boasted,  with  reason,  of  the  growth  of 
Rome  from  humble  beginnings  to  the  greatest  magnitude  which 
the  world  had  then  ever  witnessed.  But  the  citizen  of  the 
United  States  is  still  more  justly  entitled  to  claim  this  praise. 
In  two  centuries  and  a  half  his  country  has  acquired  ampler  do- 
minion than  the  Roman  gained  in  ten.  And,  even  if  we  credit 
the  legend  of  the  band  of  shepherds  and  outlaws  with  which 
Romulus  is  said  to  have  colonized  the  Seven  Hills,  we  find  not 
there  so  small  a  germ  of  future  greatness  as  we  find  in  the  group 
of  a  hundred  and  five  ill-chosen  and  disunited  emigrants  who 
founded  Jamestown  in  1607,  or  in  the  scanty  band  of  the  Pil- 
grim Fathers,  who,  a  few  years  later,  moored  their  bark  on  the 
wild  and  rock-bound  coast  of  the  wilderness  that  was  to  become 
New  England.  The  power  of  the  United  States  is  emphatically 
the  "  Imperium  quo  neque  ab  exordio  ullum  fere  minus,  neque 
incrementis  toto  orbe  amplius  humana  potest  memoria  recor- 
dari."  * 

Nothing  is  more  calculated  to  impress  the  mind  with  a  sense 
of  the  rapidity  with  which  the  resources  of  the  American  repub- 
lic advance  than  the  difficulty  which  the  historical  inquirer  finds 
in  ascertaining  their  precise  amount.  If  he  consults  the  most 
recent  works,  and  those  written  by  the  ablest  investigators  of 
the  subject,  he  finds  in  them  admiring  comments  on  the  change 
which  the  last  few  years,  before  those  books  were  written,  had 
made  ;  but  when  he  turns  to  apply  the  estimates  in  those  books  to 
the  present  moment,  he  finds  them  wholly  inadequate.  Before 
a  book  on  the  subject  of  the  United  States  has  lost  its  novelty, 
those  states  have  outgrown  the  description  which  it  contains. 
The  celebrated  work  of  the  French  statesman  De  Tocqueville 
appeared  about  fifteen  years  ago.  In  the  passage  which  I  am 
about  to  quote,  it  will  be  seen  that  he  predicts  the  constant  in- 
crease of  the  Anglo-American  power,  but  he  looks  on  the  Rocky 

*  Eutropius,  lib.  i.  (exordium). 


300  VICTORY  OF  THE  AMERICANS 

Mountains  as  their  extreme  western  limit  for  many  years  to 
come.  He  had  evidently  no  expectation  of  himself  seeing  that 
power  dominant  along  the  Pacific  as  well  as  along  the  Atlantic 
coast.     He  says :  * 

"  The  distance  from  Lake  Superior  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  ex- 
tends from  the  47th  to  the  30th  degree  of  latitude,  a  distance  of 
more  than  1200  miles,  as  the  bird  flies.  The  frontier  of  the 
United  States  winds  along  the  whole  of  this  immense  line ; 
sometimes  falling  within  its  limits,  but  more  frequently  extend- 
ing far  beyond  it  into  the  waste.  It  has  been  calculated  that 
the  Whites  advance  every  year  a  mean  distance  of  seventeen 
miles  along  the  whole  of  this  vast  boundary.  Obstacles,  such 
as  an  unproductive  district,  a  lake,  or  an  Indian  nation  unex- 
pectedly encountered,  are  sometimes  met  with.  The  advancing 
column  then  halts  for  a  while;  its  two  extremities  fall  back 
upon  themselves,  and  as  soon  as  they  are  reunited  they  proceed 
onward.  This  gradual  and  continuous  progress  of  the  Euro- 
pean race  towards  the  Rocky  Mountains  has  the  solemnity  of  a 
Providential  event :  it  is  like  a  deluge  of  men  rising  unabatedly, 
and  daily  driven  onward  by  the  hand  of  God. 

"  Within  this  first  line  of  conquering  settlers  towns  are  built, 
and  vast  estates  founded.  In  1790  there  were  only  a  few  thou- 
sand pioneers  sprinkled  along  the  valleys  of  the  Mississippi ; 
and  at  the  present  day  these  valleys  contain  as  many  inhabitants 
as  were  to  be  found  in  the  whole  Union  in  1790.  Their  popu- 
lation amounts  to  nearly  four  millions.  The  city  of  Washington 
was  founded  in  1800,  in  the  very  centre  of  the  Union  ;  but  such 
are  the  changes  which  have  taken  place,  that  it  now  stands  at 
one  of  the  extremities;  and  the  delegates  of  the  most  remote 
Western  States  are  already  obliged  to  perform  a  journey  as  long 
as  that  from  Vienna  to  Paris. 

"  It  must  not,  then,  be  imagined  that  the  impulse  of  the  Brit- 
ish race  in  the  New  World  can  be  arrested.  The  dismember- 
ment of  the  Union,  and  the  hostilities  which  might  ensue ;  the 
abolition  of  republican  institutions,  and  the  tyrannical  govern- 
ment which  might  succeed  it,  may  retard  this  impulse,  but  they 
cannot  prevent  it  from  ultimately  fulfilling  the  destinies  to  which 
that  race  is  reserved.     No  power  upon  earth  can  close  upon  the 

*  The  original  French  of  these  passages  will  be  found  in  the  chapter  on 
"  Quelles  sont  les  chances  de  duree  .de  TUnion  Americaine — Quels  dangers  la 
menacent,"  in  the  third  volume  of  the  first  part  of  De  Tocqueville,  and  in  the 
conclusion  of  the  first  part.  They  are  (with  others)  collected  and  translated 
by  Mr.  Alison  in  his  '*  Rssays,"  vol.  iii.,  p.  374. 


AT  SARATOGA,  301 

emigrants  that  fertile  wilderness,  which  offers  resources  to  all 
industry  and  a  refuge  from  all  want.  Future  events,  of  what- 
ever nature  they  may  be,  will  not  deprive  the  Americans  of  their 
climate  or  of  their  inland  seas,  or  of  their  great  rivers,  or  of  their 
exuberant  soil.  Nor  will  bad  laws,  revolutions,  and  anarchy  be 
able  to  obliterate  that  love  of  prosperity  and  that  spirit  of  enter- 
prise which  seem  to  be  the  distinctive  characteristics  of  their 
race,  or  to  extinguish  that  knowledge  which  guides  them  on  their 
way. 

"  Thus,  in  the  midst  of  the  uncertain  future,  one  event  at  least 
is  sure.  At  a  period  which  may  be  said  to  be  near  (for  we  are 
speaking  of  the  life  of  a  nation),  the  Anglo-Americans  will  alone 
cover  the  immense  space  contained  between  the  polar  regions 
and  the  tropics,  extending  from  the  coast  of  the  Atlantic  to  the 
shores  of  the  Pacific  Ocean ;  the  territory  which  will  probably 
be  occupied  by  the  Anglo-Americans  at  some  future  time  may 
be  computed  to  equal  three  quarters  of  Europe  in  extent.  The 
climate  of  the  Union  is,  upon  the  whole,  preferable  to  that  of 
Europe,  and  its  natural  advantages  are  not  less  great ;  it  is  there- 
fore evident  that  its  population  will  at  some  future  time  be  pro- 
portionate to  our  own.  Europe,  divided  as  it  is  between  so 
many  different  nations,  and  torn  as  it  has  been  by  incessant 
wars  and  the  barbarous  manners  of  the  Middle  Ages,  has  not- 
withstanding attained  a  population  of  410  inhabitants  to  the 
square  league.  What  cause  can  prevent  the  United  States  from 
having  as  numerous  a  population  in  time  ? 

"The  time  will  therefore  come  when  one  hundred  and  fifty 
millions  of  men  will  be  living  in  North  America,  equal  in  con- 
dition, the  progeny  of  one  race,  owing  their  origin  to  the  same 
cause,  and  preserving  the  same  civilization,  the  same  language, 
the  same  religion,  the  same  habits,  the  same  manners,  and  im- 
bued with  the  same  opinions,  propagated  under  the  same  forms. 
The  rest  is  uncertain,  but  this  is  certain ;  and  it  is  a  fact  new  to 
the  world,  a  fact  fraught  with  such  portentous  consequences  as 
to  baffle  the  efforts  even  of  the  imagination." 

Let  us  turn  from  the  French  statesman,  writing  in  1835,  to  an 
English  statesman,  who  is  justly  regarded  as  the  highest  author- 
ity on  all  statistical  subjects,  and  who  described  the  United 
States  only  seven  years  ago.     Macgregor  *  tells  us, 

"  The  states  which,  on  the  ratification  of  independence,  formed 
the  American  Republican  Union,  were  thirteen,  viz. : 

*  Macgregor's  "Commercial  Statistics." 


302  VICTORY  OF  THE  AMERICANS 

"  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire,  Connecticut,  Rhode  Island, 
New  York,  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Pennsylvania,  Vir- 
ginia, North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia. 

"  The  foregoing  thirteen  states  {the  whole  inhabited  territory 
of  which,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  small  settlements,  was  con- 
fined to  the  region  extending  between  the  Alleghany  Mountains  and 
the  Atlantic)  were  those  which  existed  at  the  period  when  they 
became  an  acknowledged  separate  and  independent  federal  sov- 
ereign power.  The  thirteen  stripes  of  the  standard  or  flag  of 
the  United  States  continue  to  represent  the  original  number. 
The  stars  have  multiplied  to  twenty-six,*  according  as  the  num- 
ber of  states  have  increased. 

"The  territory  of  the  thirteen  original  states  of  the  Union, 
including  Maine  and  Vermont,  comprehended  a  superficies  of 
371,124  English  square  miles;  that  of  the  whole  United  King- 
dom of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  120,354;  that  of  France, 
including  Corsica,  214,910  ;  that  of  the  Austrian  empire,  includ- 
ing Hungary  and  all  the  imperial  states,  257,540  square  miles. 

"  The  present  superficies  of  the  twenty-six  constitutional  states 
of  the  Anglo-American  Union,  and  the  District  of  Columbia  and 
territories  of  Florida, include  1,029,025  square  miles;  to  which  if 
we  add  the  Northwest  or  Wisconsin  territory,  east  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  bounded  by  Lake  Superior  on  the  north  and  Michi- 
gan on  the  east,  and  occupying  at  least  100,000  square  miles, 
and  then  add  the  great  western  region,  not  yet  well-defined 
territories,  but  at  the  most  limited  calculation  comprehending 
700,000  square  miles — the  whole  unbroken  in  its  vast  length  and 
breadth  by  foreign  nations — it  comprehends  a  portion  of  the 
earth's  surface  equal  to  1,729,025  English,  or  1,296,770  geo- 
graphical, square  miles." 

We  may  add  that  the  population  of  the  States,  when  they  de- 
clared their  independence,  was  about  two  millions  and  a  half ; 
it  is  now  twenty-three  millions. 

I  have  quoted  Macgregor,  not  only  on  account  of  the  clear 
and  full  view  which  he  gives  of  the  progress  of  America  to  the 
date  when  he  wrote,  but  because  his  description  may  be  con- 
trasted with  what  the  United  States  have  become  even  since  his 
book  appeared.  Only  three  years  after  the  time  when  Mac- 
gregor thus  wrote,  the  American  President  truly  stated : 

"  Within  less  than  four  years  the  annexation  of  Texas  to  the 
Union  has  been  consummated,;  all  conflicting  title  to  the  Ore- 

*  Fresh  stars  have  dawned  since  this  was  written. 


AT  SARATOGA,  303 

gon  territory,  south  of  the  49th  degree  of  north  latitude,  adjust- 
ed ;  and  New  Mexico  and  Upper  California  have  been  acquired 
by  treaty.  The  area  of  these  several  territories  contains  1,193,061 
square  miles,  or  763,559,040  acres ;  while  the  area  of  the  re- 
maining twenty-nine  states,  and  the  territory  not  yet  organized 
into  states  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  contains  2,059,513 
square  miles,  or  1,318,126,058  acres.  These  estimates  show 
that  the  territories  recently  acquired,  and  over  which  our  exclu- 
sive jurisdiction  and  dominion  have  been  extended,  constitute 
a  country  more  than  half  as  large  as  all  that  which  was  held  by 
the  United  States  before  their  acquisition.  If  Oregon  be  ex- 
cluded from  the  estimate,  there  will  still  remain  within  the  lim- 
its of  Texas,  New  Mexico,  and  California  851,598  square  miles, 
or  545,012,720  acres  ;  being  an  addition  equal  to  more  than  one 
third  of  all  the  territory  owned  by  the  United  States  before 
their  acquisition ;  and,  including  Oregon,  nearly  as  great  an 
extent  of  territory  as  the  whole  of  Europe,  Russia  only  excepted. 
The  Mississippi,  so  lately  the  frontier  of  our  country,  is  now  only 
its  centre.  With  the  addition  of  the  late  acquisitions,  the  United 
States  are  now  estimated  to  be  nearly  as  large  as  the  whole  of 
Europe.  The  extent  of  the  sea-coast  of  Texas,  on  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  is  upward  of  400  miles ;  of  the  coast  of  Upper  Cali- 
fornia, on  the  Pacific,  of  970  miles ;  and  of  Oregon,  including 
the  Straits  of  Fuca,  of  650  miles ;  making  the  whole  extent  of 
sea-coast  on  the  Pacific  1620  miles,  and  the  whole  extent  on 
both  the  Pacific  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  2020  miles.  The 
length  of  the  coast  on  the  Atlantic,  from  the  northern  limits  of 
the  United  States,  round  the  Capes  of  Florida  to  the  Sabine,  on 
the  eastern  boundary  of  Texas,  is  estimated  to  be  3100  miles, 
so  that  the  addition  of  sea-coast,  including  Oregon,  is  very  nearly 
two  thirds  as  great  as  all  we  possessed  before ;  and,  excluding 
Oregon,  is  an  addition  of  1370  miles — being  nearly  equal  to 
one  half  of  the  extent  of  coast  which  we  possessed  before  these 
acquisitions.  We  have  now  three  great  maritime  fronts — on 
the  Atlantic,  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  the  Pacific ;  making,  in  the 
whole,  an  extent  of  sea-coast  exceeding  5000  miles.  This  is 
the  extent  of  the  sea-coast  of  the  United  States,  not  including 
bays,  sounds,  and  small  irregularities  of  the  main  shore,  and  of 
the  sea  islands.  If  these  be  included,  the  length  of  the  shore 
line  of  coast,  as  estimated  by  the  superintendent  of  the  Coast 
Survey,  in  his  report,  would  be  33,063  miles." 

The  importance  of  the  power  of  the  United  States  being  then 
firmly  planted  along  the  Pacific  applies  not  only  to  the  New 


304  VICTORY  OF  THE  AMERICANS 

World,  but  to  the  Old.  Opposite  to  San  Francisco,  on  the 
coast  of  that  ocean,  lie  the  wealthy  but  decrepit  empires  of  China 
and  Japan.  Numerous  groups  of  islets  stud  the  larger  part  of 
the  intervening  sea,  and  form  convenient  stepping-stones  for  the 
progress  of  commerce  or  ambition.  The  intercourse  of  traffic 
between  these  ancient  Asiatic  monarchies  and  the  young  An- 
glo-American Republic  must  be  rapid  and  extensive.  Any 
attempt  of  the  Chinese  or  Japanese  rulers  to  check  it,  will  only 
accelerate  an  armed  collision.  The  American  will  either  buy  or 
force  his  way.  Between  such  populations  as  that  of  China  and 
Japan  on  the  one  side  and  that  of  the  United  States  on  the 
other — the  former  haughty,  formal,  and  insolent ;  the  latter  bold, 
intrusive,  and  unscrupulous — causes  of  quarrel  must,  sooner  or 
later,  arise.  The  results  of  such  a  quarrel  cannot  be  doubted. 
America  will  scarcely  imitate  the  forbearance  shown  by  Eng- 
land at  the  end  of  our  late  war  with  the  Celestial  Empire ;  and 
the  conquest  of  China  and  Japan  by  the  fleets  and  armies  of  the 
United  States  are  events  which  many  now  living  are  likely  to 
witness.  Compared  with  the  magnitude  of  such  changes  in  the 
dominion  of  the  Old  World,  the  certain  ascendency  of  the  Anglo- 
Americans  over  Central  and  Southern  America  seems  a  matter 
of  secondary  importance.  Well  may  we  repeat  De  Tocqueville's 
words,  that  the  growing  power  of  this  commonwealth  is,  "  Un 
fait  entierement  nouveau  dans  le  monde,  et  dont  I'imagination 
elle-meme  ne  saurait  saisir  la  portee."  * 

An  Englishman  may  look,  and  ought  to  look,  on  the  growing 
grandeur  of  the  Americans  with  no  small  degree  of  generous 
sympathy  and  satisfaction.  They,  like  ourselves,  are  members 
of  the  great  Anglo-Saxon  nation  "  whose  race  and  language  are 
now  overrunning  the  world  from  one  end  of  it  to  the  other."  f 
And  whatever  differences  of  form  of  government  may  exist  be- 
tween us  and  them — whatever  reminiscences  of  the  days  when, 
though  brethren,  we  strove  together,  may  rankle  in  the  minds 
of  us,  the  defeated  party — we  should  cherish  the  bonds  of  com- 
mon nationality  that  still  exist  between  us.  We  should  remem- 
ber, as  the  Athenians  remembered  of  the  Spartans  at  a  season 
of  jealousy  and  temptation,  that  our  race  is  one,  being  of  the 
same  blood,  speaking  the  same  language,  having  an  essential 

♦These  remarks  were  written  in  May,  1851,  and  now,  in  May,  1862,  a 
powerful  squadron  of  American  war-steamers  has  been  sent  to  Japan,  for 
the  ostensible  purpose  of  securing  protection  for  the  crews  of  American  ves- 
sels shipwrecked  on  the  Japanese  coasts,  but  also  evidently  for  important 
ulterior  purposes.  f  Arnold. 


AT  SARATOGA.  305 

resemblance  in  our  institutions  and  usages,  and  worshipping  in 
the  temples  of  the  same  God.*  All  this  may  and  should  be 
borne  in  mind.  And  yet  an  Englishman  can  hardly  watch  the 
progress  of  America  without  the  regretful  thought  that  Amer- 
ica once  was  English,  and  that  but  for  the  folly  of  our  rulers 
she  might  be  English  still.  It  is  true  that  the  commerce  be- 
tween the  two  countries  has  largely  and  beneficially  increased ; 
but  this  is  no  proof  that  the  increase  would  not  have  been  still 
greater  had  the  States  remained  integral  portions  of  the  same 
great  empire.  By  giving  a  fair  and  just  participation  in  polit- 
ical rights,  these,  "  the  fairest  possessions  "  of  the  British  crown, 
might  have  been  preserved  to  it.  "  This  ancient  and  most  noble 
monarchy  "  f  would  not  have  been  dismembered ;  nor  should 
we  see  that  which  ought  to  be  the  right  arm  of  our  strength, 
now  menacing  us  in  every  political  crisis,  as  the  most  formida- 
ble rival  of  our  commercial  and  maritime  ascendency. 

The  war  which  rent  away  the  North  American  colonies  of 
England  is,  of  all  subjects  in  history,  the  most  painful  for  an 
Englishman  to  dwell  on.  It  was  commenced  and  carried  on  by 
the  British  ministry  in  iniquity  and  folly,  and  it  was  concluded 
in  disaster  and  shame.  But  the  contemplation  of  it  cannot  be 
evaded  by  the  historian,  however  much  it  may  be  abhorred. 
Nor  can  any  military  event  be  said  to  have  exercised  more  im- 
portant influence  on  the  future  fortunes  of  mankind  than  the 
complete  defeat  of  Burgoyne's  expedition  in  177Y;  a  defeat 
which  rescued  the  revolted  colonists  from  certain  subjection; 
and  which,  by  inducing  the  courts  of  France  and  Spain  to  at- 
tack England  in  their  behalf,  insured  the  independence  of  the 
United  States,  and  the  formation  of  that  transatlantic  power 
which  not  only  America,  but  both  Europe  and  Asia,  now  see 
and  feel. 

Still,  in  proceeding  to  describe  this  "  decisive  battle  of  the 
world,"  a  very  brief  recapitulation  of  the  earlier  events  of  the 
war  may  be  sufficient ;  nor  shall  I  linger  unnecessarily  on  a  pain- 
ful theme. 

The  five  northern  colonies  of  Massachusetts,  Connecticut, 
Rhode  Island,  New  Hampshire,  and  Vermont,  usually  classed 
together  as  the  New  England  colonies,  were  the  strongholds  of 
the  insurrection  against  the  mother-country.    The  feeling  of  re- 


'*'  'E6v  ofiaifiov  Ti  Kal  ofioyXuKTcrov,  kuI  Otdv  iSpvuaTo.  Ti  Koivd  Kai  Ovaiaif 
i)9td  TB  bfiorporca. — Herodotus,  viii.,  144. 
\  Lord  Chatham. 


306  VICTORY  OF  THE  AMERICANS 

sistance  was  less  vehement  and  general  in  the  central  settlement 
of  New  York ;  and  still  less  so  in  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and 
the  other  colonies  of  the  south,  although  everywhere  it  was 
formidably  active.  Virginia  should,  perhaps,  be  particularized 
for  the  zeal  which  its  leading  men  displayed  in  the  American 
cause ;  but  it  was  among  the  descendants  of  the  stern  Puritans 
that  the  spirit  of  Cromwell  and  Vane  breathed  in  all  its  fervor ; 
it  was  from  the  New-Englanders  that  the  first  armed  opposition 
to  the  British  crown  had  been  offered ;  and  it  was  by  them  that 
the  most  stubborn  determination  to  fight  to  the  last,  rather  than 
waive  a  single  right  or  privilege,  had  been  displayed.  In  1775 
they  had  succeeded  in  forcing  the  British  troops  to  evacuate 
Boston;  and  the  events  of  1776  had  made  New  York  (which 
the  royalists  captured  in  that  year)  the  principal  basis  of  opera- 
tions for  the  armies  of  the  mother-country. 

A  glance  at  the  map  will  show  that  the  Hudson  River,  which 
falls  into  the  Atlantic  at  New  York,  runs  down  from  the  north 
at  the  back  of  the  New  England  States,  forming  an  angle  of 
about  forty-five  degrees  with  the  line  of  the  coast  of  the  Atlan- 
tic, along  which  the  New  England  states  are  situate.  North- 
ward of  the  Hudson  we  see  a  small  chain  of  lakes  communicat- 
ing with  the  Canadian  frontier.  It  is  necessary  to  attend  closely 
to  these  geographical  points,  in  order  to  understand  the  plan  of 
the  operations  which  the  English  attempted  in  1777,  and  which 
the  battle  of  Saratoga  defeated. 

The  English  had  a  considerable  force  in  Canada ;  and  in  1776 
had  completely  repulsed  an  attack  which  the  Americans  had 
made  upon  that  province.  The  British  ministry  resolved  to 
avail  themselves,  in  the  next  year,  of  the  advantage  which  the 
occupation  of  Canada  gave  them,  not  merely  for  the  purpose  of 
defence,  but  for  the  purpose  of  striking  a  vigorous  and  crushing 
blow  against  the  revolted  colonies.  With  this  view,  the  army 
in  Canada  was  largely  reinforced.  Seven  thousand  veteran  troops 
were  sent  out  from  England,  with  a  corps  of  artillery  abundant- 
ly supplied,  and  led  by  select  and  experienced  officers.  Large 
quantities  of  military  stores  were  also  furnished  for  the  equip- 
ment of  the  Canadian  volunteers,  who  were  expected  to  join  the 
expedition.  It  was  intended  that  the  force  thus  collected  should 
march  southward  by  the  line  of  the  lakes,  and  thence  along  the 
banks  of  the  Hudson  River.  The  British  army  in  New  York  (or 
a  large  detachment  of  it)  was  "to  make  a  simultaneous  movement 
northward  up  the  line  of  the  Hudson,  and  the  two  expeditions 
were  to  unite  at  Albany,  a  town  on  that  river.    By  these  opera- 


AT  SARATOGA.  307 

tions  all  communication  between  the  northern  colonies  and  those 
of  the  centre  and  south  would  be  cut  off.  An  irresistible  force 
would  be  concentrated,  so  as  to  crush  all  further  opposition  in 
New  England ;  and  when  this  was  done,  it  was  believed  that  the 
other  colonies  would  speedily  submit.  The  Americans  had  no 
troops  in  the  field  that  seemed  able  to  baffle  these  movements. 
Their  principal  army,  under  Washington,  was  occupied  in 
watching  over  Pennsylvania  and  the  south.  At  any  rate,  it  was 
believed  that,  in  order  to  oppose  the  plan  intended  for  the  new 
campaign,  the  insurgents  must  risk  a  pitched  battle,  in  which 
the  superiority  of  the  royalists  in  numbers,  in  discipline,  and  in 
equipment  seemed  to  promise  to  the  latter  a  crowning  victory. 
Without  question  the  plan  was  ably  formed ;  and  had  the  suc- 
cess of  the  execution  been  equal  to  the  ingenuity  of  the  design, 
the  re-conquest  or  submission  of  the  thirteen  United  States 
must,  in  all  human  probability,  have  followed ;  and  the  inde- 
pendence which  they  proclaimed  in  1776  would  have  been  ex- 
tinguished before  it  existed  a  second  year.  No  European  power 
had  as  yet  come  forward  to  aid  America.  It  is  true  that  Eng- 
land was  generally  regarded  with  jealousy  and  ill-will,  and  was 
thought  to  have  acquired,  at  the  treaty  of  Paris,  a  preponder- 
ance of  dominion  which  was  perilous  to  the  balance  of  power; 
but  though  many  were  williug  to  wound,  none  had  yet  ventured 
to  strike  ;  and  America,  if  defeated  in  1777,  would  have  been 
suffered  to  fall  unaided.* 

*  In  Lord  Albemarle's  "  Memoirs  of  the  Marquis  of  Rockingham  "  is  con- 
tained the  following  remarkable  state  paper,  drawn  up  by  King  George  III. 
himself,  respecting  the  plan  of  Burgoyne's  expedition.  The  original  is  in  the 
king's  own  hand. 

"  REMARKS  ON   THE   CONDUCT   OF   THE   WAR   FROM   CANADA. 

"  The  outlines  of  the  plan  seem  to  be  on  a  proper  foundation.  The  rank 
and  file  of  the  array  now  in  Canada  (including  the  11th  Regiment  of  British, 
M'Clean's  corps,  the  Brunswicks  and  Hanover),  amount  to  10,52*7 ;  add  the 
eleven  additional  companies  and  four  hundred  Hanover  Chasseurs,  the  total 
will  be  11,443. 

'*  As  sickness  and  other  contigencies  must  be  expected,  I  should  think  not 
above  7000  effectives  can  be  spared  over  Lake  Champlain ;  for  it  would  be 
highly  imprudent  to  run  any  risk  in  Canada. 

"The  fixing  the  stations  of  those  left  in  the  provinces  may  not  be  quite 
right,  though  the  plan  proposed  may  be  recommended.  Indians  must  be  em- 
ployed, and  this  measure  must  be  avowedly  directed,  and  Carleton  must  be  in 
the  strongest  manner  directed  that  the  Apollo  shall  be  ready  by  that  day  to 
receive  Burgoyne. 

"  The  magazines  must  be  formed  with  the  greatest  expedition  at  Crown 
Point. 


308  VICTORY  OF  THE  AMERICANS 

Burgoyne  had  gained  celebrity  by  some  bold  and  dashing  ex- 
ploits in  Portugal  during  the  last  war;  he  was  personally  as 
brave  an  oflScer  as  ever  headed  British  troops;  he  had  consider- 
able skill  as  a  tactician ;  and  his  general  intellectual  abilities  and 
acquirements  were  of  a  high  order.  He  had  several  very  able 
and  experienced  oflBcers  under  him,  among  whom  were  Major- 
General  Phillips  and  Brigadier-General  Eraser.  His  regular 
troops  amounted,  exclusively  of  the  corps  of  artillery,  to  about 
seven  thousand  two  hundred  men,  rank  and  file.  Nearly  half 
of  these  were  Germans.  He  had  also  an  auxiliary  force  of  from 
two  to  three  thousand  Canadians.  He  summoned  the  warriors 
of  several  tribes  of  the  Red  Indians  near  the  western  lakes  to 
join  his  army.  Much  eloquence  was  poured  forth,  both  in 
America  and  in  England,  in  denouncing  the  use  of  these  savage 
auxiliaries.  Yet  Burgoyne  seems  to  have  done  no  more  than 
Montcalm,  Wolfe,  and  other  French,  American,  and  English 
generals  had  done  before  him.  But,  in  truth,  the  lawless  fe- 
rocity of  the  Indians,  their  unskilfulness  in  regular  action,  and 
the  utter  impossibility  of  bringing  them  under  any  discipline, 
made  their  services  of  little  or  no  value  in  times  of  difficulty ; 
while  the  indignation  which  their  outrages  inspired  went  far  to 
rouse  the  whole  population  of  the  invaded  districts  into  active 
hostilities  against  Burgoyne's  force. 

Burgoyne  assembled  his  troops  and  confederates  near  the 
river  Bouquet,  on  the  west  side  of  Lake  Champlain.  He  then, 
on  the  21st  of  June,  1777,  gave  his  red  allies  a  war-feast,  and 
harangued  them  on  the  necessity  of  abstaining  from  their  usual 
cruel  practices  against  unarmed  people  and  prisoners.  At  the 
same  time  he  published  a  pompous  manifesto  to  the  Americans, 

"  If  possible,  possession  must  be  taken  of  Lake  George,  and  nothing  but 
an  absolute  impossibility  of  succeeding  in  this  can  be  an  excuse  for  proceed* 
ing  by  South  Bay  and  Skeenborough. 

"  As  Sir  W.  Howe  does  not  think  of  acting  from  Rhode  Island  into  the 
Massachusets,  the  force  from  Canada  must  join  him  in  Albany. 

"  The  diversion  on  the  Mohawk  River  ought  at  least  to  be  strengthened  by 
the  addition  of  the  four  hundred  Hanover  Chasseurs. 

"  The  Ordnance  ought  to  furnish  a  complete  proportion  of  intrenching  tools. 

"  The  provisions  ought  to  be  calculated  for  a  third  more  than  the  effective 
soldiery,  and  the  general  ordered  to  avoid  delivering  these  when  the  army 
can  be  subsisted  by  the  country.  Burgoyne  certainly  greatly  undervalues  the 
German  recruits. 

"  The  idea  of  carrying  the  army  by  sea  to  Sir  W.  Howe  would  certainly  re- 
quire the  leaving  a  much  larger  part  of  it  in  Canada,  as  in  that  case  the  rebel 
army  would  divide  that  province  from  the  immense  one  under  Sir  W.  Howe. 
I  greatly  dislike  this  last  idea.*' 


AT  SARATOGA.  309 

in  which  he  threatened  the  refractory  with  all  the  horrors  of  war, 
Indian  as  well  as  European.  The  army  proceeded  by  water  to 
Crown  Point,  a  fortification  which  the  Americans  held  at  the 
northern  extremity  of  the  inlet  by  which  the  water  from  Lake 
George  is  conveyed  to  Lake  Champlain.  He  landed  here  with- 
out opposition ;  but  the  reduction  of  Ticonderoga,  a  fortifica- 
tion about  twelve  miles  to  the  south  of  Crown  Point,  was  a  more 
serious  matter,  and  was  supposed  to  be  the  critical  part  of  the 
expedition.  Ticonderoga  commanded  the  passage  along  the 
lakes,  and  was  considered  to  be  the  key  to  the  route  which  Bur- 
goyne  wished  to  follow.  The  English  had  been  repulsed  in  an 
attack  on  it  in  the  war  with  the  French  in  1758  with  severe  loss. 
But  Burgoyne  now  invested  it  with  great  skill ;  and  the  Ameri- 
can general,  St.  Clair,  who  had  only  an  ill-equipped  army  of 
about  three  thousand  men,  evacuated  it  on  the  5th  of  July.  It 
seems  evident  that  a  different  course  would  have  caused  the  de- 
struction or  capture  of  his  whole  army ;  which,  weak  as  it  was, 
was  the  chief  force  then  in  the  field  for  the  protection  of  the 
New  England  States.  When  censured  by  some  of  his  country- 
men for  abandoning  Ticonderoga,  St.  Clair  truly  replied  "  that 
he  had  lost  a  post,  but  saved  a  province."  Burgoyne's  troops 
pursued  the  retiring  Americans,  gained  several  advantages 
over  them,  and  took  a  large  part  of  their  artillery  and  military 
stores. 

The  loss  of  the  British  in  these  engagements  was  trifling. 
The  army  moved  southward  along  Lake  George  to  Skenes- 
borough ;  and  thence  slowly,  and  with  great  diflSculty,  across  a 
broken  country,  full  of  creeks  and  marshes,  and  clogged  by  the 
enemy  with  felled  trees  and  other  obstacles,  to  Fort  Edward,  on 
the  Hudson  River,  the  American  troops  continuing  to  retire  be- 
fore them. 

Burgoyne  reached  the  left  bank  of  the  Hudson  River  on  the 
30th  of  July.  Hitherto  he  had  overcome  every  dijQBculty  which 
the  enemy  and  the  nature  of  the  country  had  placed  in  his  way. 
His  army  was  in  excellent  order  and  in  the  highest  spirits ;  and 
the  peril  of  the  expedition  seemed  over,  when  they  were  once 
on  the  bank  of  the  river  which  was  to  be  the  channel  of  com- 
munication between  them  and  the  British  army  in  the  south. 
But  their  feelings,  and  those  of  the  English  nation  in  general 
when  their  successes  were  announced,  may  best  be  learned  from 
a  contemporary  writer.  Burke,  in  the  "Annual  Register"  for 
1777,  describes  them  thus: 

•♦  Such  was  the  rapid  torrent  of  success  which  swept  everr- 


810  VICTORY  OF  THE  AMERICANS 

thing  away  before  the  northern  army  in  its  onset.  It  is  not  to 
be  wondered  at  if  both  officers  and  private  men  were  highly 
elated  with  their  good  fortune,  and  deemed  that  and  their  prow- 
ess to  be  irresistible  ;  if  they  regarded  their  enemy  with  the  great- 
est contempt ;  considered  their  own  toils  to  be  nearly  at  an  end ; 
Albany  to  be  already  in  their  hands ;  and  the  reduction  of  the 
northern  provinces  to  be  rather  a  matter  of  some  time  than  an 
arduous  task  full  of  difficulty  and  danger. 

"  At  home,  the  joy  and  exultation  was  extreme ;  not  only  at 
court,  but  with  all  those  who  hoped  or  wished  the  unqualified 
subjugation  and  unconditional  submission  of  the  colonies.  The 
loss  in  reputation  was  greater  to  the  Americans,  and  capable  of 
more  fatal  consequences,  than  even  that  of  ground,  of  posts,  of 
artillery,  or  of  men.  AH  the  contemptuous  and  most  degrad- 
ing charges  which  had  been  made  by  their  enemies,  of  their 
wanting  the  resolution  and  abilities  of  men,  even  in  their  de- 
fence of  whatever  was  dear  to  them,  were  now  repeated  and 
believed.  Those  who  still  regarded  them  as  men,  and  who  had 
not  yet  lost  all  affection  to  them  as  brethren,  who  also  retained 
hopes  that  a  happy  reconciliation  upon  constitutional  principles, 
without  sacrificing  the  dignity  or  the  just  authority  of  govern- 
ment on  the  one  side,  or  a  dereliction  of  the  rights  of  freemen 
on  the  other,  was  not  even  now  impossible,  notwithstanding 
their  favorable  dispositions  in  general,  could  not  help  feeling 
upon  this  occasion  that  the  Americans  sunk  not  a  little  in 
their  estimation.  It  was  not  difficult  to  diffuse  an  opinion  that 
the  war  in  effect  was  over;  and  that  any  further  resistance 
could  serve  only  to  render  the  terms  of  their  submission  the 
worse.  Such  were  some  of  the  immediate  effects  of  the  loss 
of  those  grand  keys  of  North  America,  Ticonderoga  and  the 
lakes." 

The  astonishment  and  alarm  which  these  events  produced 
among  the  Americans  were  naturally  great ;  but  in  the  midst  of 
their  disasters  none  of  the  colonists  showed  any  disposition  to 
submit.  The  local  governments  of  the  New  England  States,  as 
well  as  the  Congress,  acted  with  vigor  and  firmness  in  their 
efforts  to  repel  the  enemy.  General  Gates  was  sent  to  take 
command  of  the  army  at  Saratoga ;  and  Arnold,  a  favorite  leader 
of  the  Americans,  was  despatched  by  Washington  to  act  under 
him,  with  reinforcements  of  troops  and  guns  from  the  main 
American  army.  Burgoyne's  employment  of  the  Indians  now 
produced  the  worst  possible  effects.  Though  he  labored  hard 
to  check  the  atrocities  which  they  were  accustomed  to  com- 


AT  SARATOGA.  311 

mit,  he  could  not  prevent  the  occurrence  of  many  barbarous 
outrages,  repugnant  both  to  the  feelings  of  humanity  and  to  the 
laws  of  civilized  warfare.  The  American  commanders  took  care 
that  the  reports  of  these  excesses  should  be  circulated  far  and 
wide,  well  knowing  that  they  would  make  the  stern  New-Eng- 
landers  not  droop,  but  rage.  Such  was  their  effect ;  and  though, 
when  each  man  looked  upon  his  wife,  his  children,  his  sisters, 
or  his  aged  parents,  the  thought  of  the  merciless  Indian  "  thirst- 
ing for  the  blood  of  man,  woman,  and  child,"  of  "the  cannibal 
savage  torturing,  murdering,  roasting,  and  eating  the  mangled 
victims  of  his  barbarous  battles,"*  might  raise  terror  in  the 
bravest  breasts,  this  very  terror  produced  a  directly  contrary 
effect  to  causing  submission  to  the  royal  army.  It  was  seen 
that  the  few  friends  of  the  royal  cause,  as  well  as  its  enemies, 
were  liable  to  be  the  victims  of  the  indiscriminate  rage  of  the 
savages ;  f  and  thus  "  the  inhabitants  of  the  open  and  frontier 
countries  had  no  choice  of  acting:  they  had  no  means  of  se- 
curity left,  but  by  abandoning  their  habitations  and  taking  up 
arms.  Every  man  saw  the  necessity  of  becoming  a  temporary 
soldier,  not  only  for  his  own  security,  but  for  the  protection  and 
defence  of  those  connections  which  are  dearer  than  life  itself." 
Thus  an  army  was  poured  forth  by  the  woods,  mountains,  and 
marshes,  which  in  this  part  were  thickly  sown  with  plantations 
and  villages.  The  Americans  recalled  their  courage  ;  and  when 
their  regular  army  seemed  to  be  entirely  wasted,  the  spirit  of 
the  country  produced  a  much  greater  and  more  formidable 
force. X 

While  resolute  recruits,  accustomed  to  the  use  of  firearms, 
and  all  partially  trained  by  service  in  the  provincial  militias, 
were  thus  flocking  to  the  standard  of  Gates  and  Arnold  at  Sara- 
toga, and  while  Burgoyne  was  engaged  at  Fort  Edward  in  pro- 
viding the  means  for  the  further  advance  of  his  army  through 
the  intricate  and  hostile  country  that  still  lay  before  him,  two 
events  occurred,  in  each  of  which  the  British  sustained  loss 
and  the  Americans  obtained  advantage,  the  moral  effects  of 
which  were  even  more  important  than  the  immediate  result  of 
the  encounters.  When  Burgoyne  left  Canada,  General  St.  Leger 
was  detached  from  that  province  with  a  mixed  force  of  about 
one   thousand   men,  and  some  light  field-pieces,  across  Lake 

♦Lord  Chatham's  speech  on  the  employment  of  Indians  in  the  war. 
tSee  in  the  "Annual  Register"  for  1777,  p.  117,  the  "Narrative  of  the 
Murder  of  Miss  McCrea,  the  daughter  of  an  American  loyalist." 
X  Burke. 


312  VICTORY  OF  THE  AMERICANS 

Ontario  against  Fort  Stanwix,  which  the  Americans  held.  After 
capturing  this,  he  was  to  march  along  the  Mohawk  River  to  its 
confluence  with  the  Hudson,  between  Saratoga  and  Albany, 
where  his  force  and  that  of  Burgoyne  were  to  unite.  But,  after 
some  successes,  St.  Leger  was  obliged  to  retreat,  and  to  abandon 
his  tents  and  large  quantities  of  stores  to  the  garrison.  At  the 
very  time  that  General  Burgoyne  heard  of  this  disaster,  he  ex- 
perienced one  still  more  severe  in  the  defeat  of  Colonel  Baum 
with  a  large  detachment  of  German  troops  at  Bennington,  whith- 
er Burgoyne  had  sent  them  for  the  purpose  of  capturing  some 
magazines  of  provisions,  of  which  the  British  army  stood  greatly 
in  need.  The  Americans,  augmented  by  continual  accessions  of 
strength,  succeeded,  after  many  attacks,  in  breaking  this  corps, 
which  fled  into  the  woods,  and  left  its  commander  mortally 
wounded  on  the  field ;  they  then  marched  against  a  force  of 
five  hundred  grenadiers  and  light  infantry,  which  was  advanc- 
ing to  Colonel  Baum's  assistance  under  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Breyman,  who,  after  a  gallant  resistance,  was  obliged  to  retreat 
on  the  main  army.  The  British  loss  in  these  two  actions  ex- 
ceeded six  hundred  men ;  and  a  party  of  American  loyalists 
on  their  way  to  join  the  army,  having  attached  themselves  to 
Colonel  Baum's  corps,  were  destroyed  with  it. 

Notwithstanding  these  reverses,  which  added  greatly  to  the 
spirit  and  numbers  of  the  American  forces,  Burgoyne  deter- 
mined to  advance.  It  was  impossible  any  longer  to  keep  up 
his  communications  with  Canada  by  way  of  the  lakes,  so  as  to 
supply  his  army  on  his  southward  march ;  but  having  by  un- 
remitting exertions  collected  provisions  for  thirty  days,  he 
crossed  the  Hudson  by  means  of  a  bridge  of  rafts,  and,  march- 
ing a  short  distance  along  its  western  bank,  he  encamped  on 
the  14th  of  September  on  the  heights  of  Saratoga,  about  six- 
teen miles  from  Albany.  The  Americans  had  fallen  back  from 
Saratoga,  and  were  now  strongly  posted  near  Stillwater,  about 
half-way  between  Saratoga  and  Albany,  and  showed  a  deter- 
mination to  recede  no  farther. 

Meanwhile  Lord  Howe,  with  the  bulk  of  the  British  army 
that  had  lain  at  New  York,  had  sailed  away  to  the  Delaware, 
and  there  commenced  a  campaign  against  Washington,  in  which 
the  English  general  took  Philadelphia,  and  gained  other  showy 
but  unprofitable  successes.  But  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  a  brave 
and  skilful  officer,  was  left  with  a  considerable  force  at  New 
York ;  and  he  undertook  the  task  of  moving  up  the  Hudson  to 
co-operate  with  Burgoyne.     Clinton  was  obliged,  for  this  pur- 


AT  SARATOGA,  313 

pose,  to  wait  for  reinforcements  which  had  been  promised  from 
England,  and  these  did  not  arrive  till  September.  As  soon  as 
he  received  them,  Clinton  embarked  about  3000  of  his  men  on 
a  flotilla,  convoyed  by  some  ships  of  war  under  Commander 
Hotham,  and  proceeded  to  force  his  way  up  the  river;  but  it 
was  long  before  he  was  able  to  open  any  communication  with 
Burgoyne. 

The  country  between  Burgoyne's  position  at  Saratoga  and 
that  of  the  Americans  at  Stillwater  was  rugged,  and  seamed 
with  creeks  and  watercourses ;  but  after  great  labor  in  making 
bridges  and  temporary  causeways,  the  British  army  moved  for- 
ward. About  four  miles  from  Saratoga,  on  the  afternoon  of 
the  19th  of  September,  a  sharp  encounter  took  place  between 
part  of  the  English  right  wing,  under  Burgoyne  himself,  and  a 
strong  body  of  the  enemy,  under  Gates  and  Arnold.  The  con- 
flict lasted  till  sunset.  The  British  remained  masters  of  the 
field ;  but  the  loss  on  each  side  was  nearly  equal  (from  five 
hundred  to  six  hundred  men) ;  and  the  spirits  of  the  Ameri- 
cans were  greatly  raised  by  having  withstood  the  best  regular 
troops  of  tile  English  army.  Burgoyne  now  halted  again,  and 
strengthened  his  position  by  field-works  and  redoubts ;  and  the 
Americans  also  improved  their  defences.  The  two  armies  re- 
mained nearly  within  cannon-shot  of  each  other  for  a  consider- 
able time,  during  which  Burgoyne  was  anxiously  looking  for 
intelligence  of  the  promised  expedition  from  New  York,  which, 
according  to  the  original  plan,  ought  by  this  time  to  have  been 
approaching  Albany  from  the  south.  At  last,  a  messenger  froff 
Clinton  made  his  way  with  great  diflSculty  to  Burgoyne's  camp, 
and  brought  the  information  that  Clinton  was  on  his  way  up  the 
Hudson  to  attack  the  American  forts  which  barred  the  passage 
up  that  river  to  Albany.  Burgoyne,  in  reply,  on  the  30th  of 
September,  urged  Clinton  to  attack  the  forts  as  speedily  as 
possible,  stating  that  the  eSect  of  such  an  attack,  or  even  the 
semblance  of  it,  would  be  to  move  the  American  army  from  its 
position  before  his  own  troops.  By  another  messenger,  who 
reached  Clinton  on  the  5th  of  October,  Burgoyne  informed  his 
brother  general  that  he  had  lost  his  communications  with 
Canada,  but  had  provisions  which  would  last  him  till  the  20th. 
Burgoyne  described  himself  as  strongly  posted,  and  stated  that, 
though  the  Americans  in  front  of  him  were  strongly  posted  also, 
he  made  no  doubt  of  being  able  to  force  them  and  making  his 
way  to  Albany  ;  but  that  he  doubted  whether  he  could  subsist 
there,  as  the  country  was  drained  of  provisions,      He  wishedi 


314  VICTORY  OF  THE  AMERICANS 

Clinton  to  meet  him  there,  and  to  keep  open  a  communication 
with  New  York.* 

Burgoyne  had  overestimated  his  resources,  and  in  the  very 
beginning  of  October  found  difficulty  and  distress  pressing  him 
hard. 

The  Indians  and  Canadians  began  to  desert  him ;  while,  on 
the  other  hand,  Gates's  army  was  continually  reinforced  by 
fresh  bodies  of  the  militia.  An  expeditionary  force  was 
detached  by  the  Americans,  which  made  a  bold  though  un- 
successful attempt  to  retake  Ticonderoga.  And  finding  the 
number  and  spirit  of  the  enemy  to  increase  daily,  and  his  own 
stores  of  provisions  to  diminish,  Burgoyne  determined  on  at- 
tacking the  Americans  in  front  of  him,  and  by  dislodging  them 
from  their  position  to  gain  the  means  of  moving  upon  Albany, 
or  at  least  of  relieving  his  troops  from  the  straitened  position  in 
which  they  were  cooped  up. 

Burgoyne's  force  was  now  reduced  to  less  than  6000  men. 
The  right  of  his  camp  was  on  some  high  ground  a  little  to  the 
west  of  the  river ;  thence  his  intrenchments  extended  along  the 
lower  ground  to  the  bank  of  the  Hudson,  the  line  of  their  front 
bein^  nearly  at  a  right  angle  with  the  course  of  the  stream. 
The  lines  were  fortified  with  redoubts  and  field-works,  and  on  a 
height  on  the  flank  of  the  extreme  right  a  strong  redoubt  was 
reared,  and  intrenchments,  in  a  horseshoe  form,  thrown  up. 
The  Hessians,  under  Colonel  Breyman,  were  stationed  here, 
forming  a  flank  defence  to  Burgoyne's  main  army.  The  numer- 
ical force  of  the  Americans  was  now  greater  than  the  British, 
even  in  regular  troops,  and  the  numbers  of  the  militia  and 
volunteers  which  had  joined  Gates  and  Arnold  were  greater 
still. 

General  Lincoln,  with  2000  New  England  troops,  had  reached 
the  American  camp  on  the  29th  of  September.  Gates  gave  him 
the  command  of  the  right  wing,  and  took  in  person  the  com- 
mand of  the  left  wing,  which  was  composed  of  two  brigades 
under  Generals  Poor  and  Leonard,  of  Colonel  Morgan's  rifle 
corps,  and  part  of  the  fresh  New  England  militia.  The  whole 
of  the  American  lines  had  been  ably  fortified  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  celebrated  Polish  general,  Kosciusko,  who  was  now 
serving  as  a  volunteer  in  Gates's  army.    The  right  of  the  Ameri- 

*  See  the  letters  of  General  Clinton  to  General  Harvey,  published  by  Lord 
Albemarle  in  his  "  Memoirs  of  the  Marquis  of  Rockingham,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  335 
et  seq. 


AT  SARATOGA. 


315 


can  position — that  is  to  say,  tlie  part  of  it  nearest  to  the  river — 
was  too  strong  to  be  assailed  with  any  prospect  of  success,  and 
Burgoyne  therefore  determined  to  endeavor  to  force  their  left. 
For  this  purpose  he  formed  a  column  of  1500  regular  troops, 
with  two  twelve-pounders,  two  howitzers,  and  six  six-pounders. 
He  headed  this  in  person,  having  Generals  Phillips,  Riedesel, 
and  Fraser  under  him.  The  enemy's  force  immediately  in  front 
of  his  lines  was  so  strong  that  he  dared  not  weaken  the  troops 
who  guarded  them  by  detaching  any  more  to  strengthen  his 
column  of  attack. 


PLAN    OF   THE    BATTLK    OF    SARATOGA. 


It  was  on  the  7th  of  October  that  Burgoyne  led  his  column 
forward ;  and  on  the  preceding  day,  the  6th,  Clinton  had  suc- 
cessfully executed  a  brilliant  enterprise  against  the  two  Ameri- 
can forts  which  barred  his  progress  up  the  Hudson.  He  had 
captured  them  both,  with  severe  loss  to  the  American  forces  op- 
posed to  him ;  he  had  destroyed  the  fleet  which  the  Americans 
had  been  forming  on  the   Hudson,  under  protection  of  their 


316  VICTORY  OP  TIIP  AMERlCAm 

forts ;  and  the  upward  river  was  laid  open  to  his  squadron.  He 
had  also,  with  admirable  skill  and  industry,  collected  in  small 
vessels,  such  as  could  float  within  a  few  miles  of  Albany,  pro- 
visions sufficient  to  supply  Burgoyne's  army  for  six  months.* 
He  was  now  only  a  hundred  and  fifty-six  miles  distant  from 
Burgoyne ;  and  a  detachment  of  1700  men  actually  advanced 
within  forty  miles  of  Albany.  Unfortunately,  Burgoyne  and 
Clinton  were  each  ignorant  of  the  other's  movements ;  but  if 
Burgoyne  had  won  his  battle  on  the  7th,  he  must,  on  advancing, 
have  soon  learned  the  tidings  of  Clinton's  success,  and  Clinton 
would  have  heard  of  his.  A  junction  would  soon  have  been 
made  of  the  two  victorious  armies,  and  the  great  objects  of  the 
campaign  might  yet  have  been  accomplished.  All  depended  on 
the  fortune  of  the  column  with  which  Burgoyne,  on  the  event- 
ful 7th  of  October,  1777,  advanced  against  the  American  posi- 
tion. There  were  brave  men,  both  English  and  German,  in  its 
ranks ;  and  in  particular  it  comprised  one  of  the  best  bodies  of 
grenadiers  in  the  British  service. 

Burgoyne  pushed  forward  some  bodies  of  irregular  troops  to 
distract  the  enemy's  attention ;  and  led  his  column  to  within 
three  quarters  of  a  mile  from  the  left  of  Gates's  camp,  and  then 
deployed  his  men  into  line.  The  grenadiers  under  Major  Ack- 
land,  and  the  artillery  under  Major  Williams,  were  drawn  up  on 
the  left ;  a  corps  of  Germans  under  General  Riedesel,  and  some 
British  troops  under  General  Phillips,  were  in  the  centre ;  and 
the  English  light  infantry,  and  the  24th  Regiment  under  Lord 
Balcarres  and  General  Eraser,  were  on  the  right.  But  Gates 
did  not  wait  to  be  attacked ;  and  directly  the  British  line  was 
formed  and  began  to  advance,  the  American  general,  with  ad- 
mirable skill,  caused  General  Poor's  brigade  of  New  York  and 
New  Hampshire  troops,  and  part  of  General  Leonard's  brigade, 
to  make  a  sudden  and  vehement  rush  against  its  left,  and  at  the 
same  time  sent  Colonel  Morgan,  with  his  rifle  corps  and  other 
troops,  amounting  to  1500,  to  turn  the  right  of  the  English. 
The  grenadiers  under  Ackland  sustained  the  charge  of  superior 
numbers  nobly.  But  Gates  sent  more  Americans  forward,  and 
in  a  few  minutes  the  action  became  general  along  the  centre, 
so  as  to  prevent  the  Germans  from  detaching  any  help  to  the 
grenadiers.  Morgan,  with  his  riflemen,  was  now  pressing  Lord 
Balcarres  and  General  Eraser  hard,  and  fresh  masses  of  the 
enemy  were  observed  advancing  from  their  extreme  left,  with 

♦See  Clintou's  letters  in  "Lord  Albemarle,"  p.  337. 


AT  SARATOGA.  317 

the  evident  intention  of  forcing  the  British  right,  and  cutticg 
off  its  retreat.  The  English  light  infantry  and  the  24th  now  fell 
back,  and  formed  an  oblique  second  line,  which  enabled  them 
to  baffle  this  manoeuvre,  and  also  to  succor  their  comrades  in  the 
left  wing,  the  gallant  grenadiers,  who  were  overpowered  by 
superior  numbers,  and,  but  for  this  aid,  must  have  been  cut  to 
pieces. 

The  contest  now  was  fiercely  maintained  on  both  sides.  The 
English  cannon  were  repeatedly  taken  and  retaken ;  but  when 
the  grenadiers  near  them  were  forced  back  by  the  weight  of 
superior  numbers,  one  of  the  guns  was  permanently  captured  by 
the  Americans,  and  turned  upon  the  English.  Major  Williams 
and  Major  Ackland  were  both  made  prisoners,  and  in  this  part 
of  the  field  the  advantage  of  the  Americans  was  decided.  The 
British  centre  still  held  its  ground  ;  but  now  it  was  that  the 
American  general  Arnold  appeared  upon  the  scene,  and  did 
more  for  his  countrymen  than  whole  battalions  could  have 
effected.  Arnold,  when  the  decisive  engagement  of  the  7th  of 
October  commenced,  had  been  deprived  of  his  command  by 
Gates,  in  consequence  of  a  quarrel  between  them  about  the  ac- 
tion of  the  19th  of  September.  He  had  listened  for  a  short 
time  in  the  American  camp  to  the  thunder  of  the  battle,  in 
which  he  had  no  military  right  to  take  part,  either  as  com- 
mander or  as  combatant.  But  his  excited  spirit  could  not  long 
endure  such  a  state  of  inaction.  He  called  for  his  horse,  a 
powerful  brown  charger,  and,  springing  on  it,  galloped  furiously 
to  where  the  fight  seemed  to  be  the  thickest.  Gates  saw  him, 
and  sent  an  aide-de-camp  to  recall  him  ;  but  Arnold  spurred  far 
in  advance,  and  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  three  regiments 
which  had  formerly  been  under  him,  and  which  welcomed  their 
old  commander  with  joyous  cheers.  He  led  them  instantly  upon 
the  British  centre  ;  and  then,  galloping  along  the  American  line, 
he  issued  orders  for  a  renewed  and  a  closer  attack,  which  were 
obeyed  with  alacrity,  Arnold  himself  setting  the  example  of  the 
most  daring  personal  bravery,  and  charging  more  than  once, 
sword  in  hand,  into  the  English  ranks.  On  the  British  side  the 
officers  did  their  duty  nobly  ;  but  General  Eraser  was  the  most 
eminent  of  them  all,  restoring  order  wherever  the  line  began  to 
waver,  and  infusing  fresh  courage  into  his  men  by  voice  and 
example.  Mounted  on  an  iron-gray  charger,  and  dressed  in  the 
full  uniform  of  a  general  officer,  he  was  conspicuous  to  foes  as 
well  as  to  friends.  The  American  colonel  Morgan  thought  that 
the  fate  of  the  battle  rested  on  this  gallant  man's  life,  and,  call- 


318  VICTORY  OF  THE  AMERICANS 

ing  several  of  his  best  marksmen  round  him,  pointed  Fraser  out, 
and  said:  "That  officer  is  General  Fraser;  I  admire  him,  but 
he  must  die.  Our  victory  depends  on  it.  Take  your  stations 
in  that  chimp  of  bushes,  and  do  your  duty."  Within  five  min- 
utes Fraser  fell  mortally  wounded,  and  was  carried  to  the  British 
camp  by  two  grenadiers.  Just  previously  to  his  being  struck 
by  the  fatal  bullet,  one  rifle-ball  had  cut  the  crupper  of  his 
saddle,  and  another  had  passed  through  his  horse's  mane  close 
behind  the  ears.  His  aide-de-camp  had  noticed  this,  and  said : 
"  It  is  evident  that  you  are  marked  out  for  particular  aim ; 
would  it  not  be  prudent  for  you  to  retire  from  this  place  ?" 
Fraser  replied :  "  My  duty  forbids  me  to  fly  from  danger ;"  and 
the  next  moment  he  fell.* 

Burgoyne's  whole  force  were  now  compelled  to  retreat  towards 
their  camp.  The  left  and  centre  were  in  complete  disorder,  but 
the  light  infantry  and  the  24tli  checked  the  fury  of  the  assail- 
ants, and  the  remains  of  the  column  with  great  difficulty  effected 
their  return  to  their  camp,  leaving  six  of  their  cannons  in  the 
possession  of  the  enemy,  and  great  numbers  of  killed  and 
wounded  on  the  field ;  and  especially  a  large  proportion  of  the 
artillerymen,  who  had  stood  to  their  guns  until  shot  down  or 
bayoneted  beside  them  by  the  advancing  Americans. 

Burgoyne's  column  had  been  defeated,  but  the  action  was  not 
yet  over.  The  English  had  scarcely  entered  the  camp,  when  the 
Americans,  pursuing  their  success,  assaulted  it  in  several  places 
with  remarkable  impetuosity,  rushing  in  upon  the  intrenchments 
and  redoubts  through  a  severe  fire  of  grape-shot  and  musketry. 
Arnold  especially,  who  on  this  day  appeared  maddened  with  the 
thirst  of  combat  and  carnage,  urged  on  the  attack  against  a  part 
of  the  intrenchments  which  was  occupied  by  the  light  infantry 
under  Lord  Balcarres.f  But  the  English  received  him  with 
vigor  and  spirit.  The  struggle  here  was  obstinate  and  san- 
guinary. At  length,  as  it  grew  towards  evening,  Arnold,  having 
forced  all  obstacles,  entered  the  works  with  some  of  the  most 
fearless  of  his  followers.  But  in  this  critical  moment  of  glory 
and  danger,  he  received  a  painful  wound  in  the  same  leg  which 
had  already  been  injured  at  the  assault  on  Quebec.  To  his  bit- 
ter regret  he  was  obliged  to  be  carried  back.  His  party  still 
continued  the  attack,  but  the  English  also  continued  their  ob- 
stinate resistance,  and  at  last  night  fell,  and  the  assailants  with- 
drew from  this  quarter  of  the  British  intrenchments.     But  in 

*  Lossing.  f  Botta's  "  American  War,"  book  viii. 


AT  SARATOGA.  319 

another  part  the  attack  had  been  more  successful.  A  body  of 
the  Americans,  under  Colonel  Brooke,  forced  their  way  in 
through  a  part  of  the  horseshoe  intrenchments  on  the  extreme 
right,  which  was  defended  by  the  Hessian  reserve  under  Colonel 
Breyman.  The  Germans  resisted  well,  and  Breyman  died  in  de- 
fence of  his  post ;  but  the  Americans  made  good  the  ground 
which  they  had  won,,  and  captured  baggage,  tents,  artillery,  and 
a  store  of  ammunition,  which  they  were  greatly  in  need  of.  They 
had,  by  establishing  themselves  on  this  point,  acquired  the  means 
of  completely  turning  the  right  flank  of  the  British,  and  gaining 
their  rear.  To  prevent  this  calamity,  Burgoyne  effected  during 
the  night  an  entire  change  of  position.  AVith  great  skill  he  re- 
moved his  whole  army  to  some  heights  near  the  river,  a  little 
northward  of  the  former  camp,  and  he  there  drew  up  his  men, 
expecting  to  be  attacked  on  the  following  day.  But  Gates  was 
resolved  not  to  risk  the  certain  triumph  which  his  success  had 
already  secured  for  him.  He  harassed  the  English  with  skir- 
mishes, but  attempted  no  regular  attack.  Meanwhile  he  de- 
tached bodies  of  troops  on  both  sides  of  the  Hudson  to  prevent, 
the  British  from  recrossing  that  river,  and  to  bar  their  retreat. 
When  night  fell,  it  became  absolutely  necessary  for  Burgoyne  to 
retire  again,  and,  accordingly,  the  troops  were  marched  through 
a  stormy  and  rainy  night  towards  Saratoga,  abandoning  their 
sick  and  wounded  and  the  greater  part  of  their  baggage  to  the 
enemy. 

Before  the  rear-guard  quitted  the  camp,  the  last  sad  honors 
were  paid  to  the  brave  General  Fraser,  who  expired  on  the  day 
after  the  action. 

He  had,  almost  with  his  last  breath,  expressed  a  wish  to  be 
buried  in  the  redoubt  which  had  formed  the  part  of  the  British 
lines  where  he  had  been  stationed,  but  which  had  now  been 
abandoned  by  the  English,  and  was  within  full  range  of  the  can- 
non which  the  advancing  Americans  were  rapidly  placing  in 
position  to  bear  upon  Burgoyne's  force.  Burgoyne  resolved, 
nevertheless,  to  comply  with  the  dying  wish  of  his  comrade ; 
and  the  interment  took  place  under  circumstances  the  most 
affecting  that  have  ever  marked  a  soldier's  funeral.  Still  more 
interesting  is  the  narrative  of  Lady  Ackland's  passage  from  the 
British  to  the  American  camp,  after  the  battle,  to  share  the  cap- 
tivity and  alleviate  the  sufferings  of  her  husband,  who  had  been 
severely  wounded,  and  left  in  the  enemy's  power.  The  Ameri- 
can historian  Lossing  has  described  both  these  touching  epi- 
sodes of  the  campaign  in  a  spirit  that  does  honor  to  the  writer 


320  VICTORY  OF  THE  AMERICANS 

as  well  as  to  his  subject.  Artef  narrating  the  death  of  General 
Fraser  on  the  8th  of  October,  he  says  that  "  it  was  just  at  sun- 
set, on  that  calm  October  evening,  that  the  corpse  of  General 
Fraser  was  carried  up  the  hill  to  the  place  of  burial  within  the 
*  great  redoubt.'  It  was  attended  only  by  the  members  of  his 
military  family  and  Mr.  Brudenell,  the  chaplain;  yet  the  eyes  of 
hundreds  of  both  armies  followed  the  solemn  procession,  while 
the  Americans,  ignorant  of  its  true  character,  kept  up  a  constant 
cannonade  upon  the  redoubt.  The  chaplain,  unawed  by  the 
danger  to  which  he  was  exposed,  as  the  cannon-balls  that  struck 
the  hill  threw  the  loose  soil  over  him,  pronounced  the  impres- 
sive funeral  service  of  the  Church  of  England  with  an  unfalter- 
ing voice.  The  growing  darkness  added  solemnity  to  the  scene. 
Suddenly  the  irregular  firing  ceased,  and  the  solemn  voice  of  a 
single  cannon,  at  measured  intervals,  boomed  along  the  valley, 
and  awakened  the  responses  of  the  hills.  It  was  a  minute-gun 
tired  by  the  Americans  in  honor  of  the  gallant  dead.  The  mo- 
ment information  was  given  that  the  gathering  at  the  redoubt 
was  a  funeral  company,  fulfilling,  amid  imminent  perils,  the  last- 
breathed  wishes  of  the  noble  Fraser,  orders  were  issued  to  with- 
hold the  cannonade  with  balls,  and  to  render  military  homage 
to  the  fallen  brave.  *  *  * 

"  The  case  of  Major  Ackland  and  his  heroic  wife  presents  kin- 
dred features.  He  belonged  to  the  corps  of  grenadiers,  and  was 
an  accomplished  soldier.  His  wife  accompanied  him  to  Canada 
in  1776  ;  and  during  the  whole  campaign  of  that  year,  and  until 
his  return  to  England  after  the  surrender  of  Burgoyne,  in  the 
autumn  of  1777,  endured  all  the  hardships,  dangers,  and  priva- 
tions of  an  active  campaign  in  an  enemy's  country.  At  Cham- 
bly,  on  the  Sorel,  she  attended  him  in  illness,  in  a  miserable  hut ; 
and  when  he  was  wounded  in  the  battle  of  Hubbardton,  Ver- 
mont, she  hastened  to  him  at  Skenesborough  from  Montreal, 
where  she  had  been  persuaded  to  remain,  and  resolved  to  follow 
the  army  thereafter.  Just  before  crossing  the  Hudson,  she  and 
her  husband  came  near  losing  their  lives  in  consequence  of 
their  tent  accidentally  taking  fire. 

"  During  the  terrible  engagement  of  the  7th  of  October,  she 
heard  all  the  tumult  and  dreadful  thunder  of  the  battle  in  which 
her  husband  was  engaged ;  and  when,  on  the  morning  of  the  8th, 
the  British  fell  back  in  confusion  to  Wilbur's  Basin,  she,  with 
the  other  women,  was  obliged  to  take  refuge  among  the  dead 
and  dying ;  for  the  tents  were  all  struck,  and  hardly  a  shed  was 
left  standing.     Her  husband  was  wounded,  and  a  prisoner  in  the 


AT  SARATOGA.  321 

American  camp.  That  gallant  officer  was  shot  through  both 
legs  when  Poor  and  Learned's  troops  assaulted  the  grenadiers 
and  artillery  on  the  British  left,  on  the  afternoon  of  the  7th. 
Wilkinson,  Gates's  adjutant-general,  while  pursuing  the  flying 
enemy  when  they  abandoned  their  battery,  heard  a  feeble  voice 
exclaim,  *  Protect  me,  sir,  against  that  boy.'  He  turned  and  saw 
a  lad  with  a  musket  taking  deliberate  aim  at  a  wounded  British 
officer,  lying  in  a  corner  of  a  worm  fence.  Wilkinson  ordered 
the  boy  to  desist,  and  discovered  the  wounded  man  to  be  Major 
Ackland.  He  had  him  conveyed  to  the  quarters  of  General 
Poor  (now  the  residence  of  Mr.  Neilson)  on  the  heights,  where 
every  attention  was  paid  to  his  wants. 

"  When  the  intelligenoe  that  he  was  wounded  and  a  prisoner 
reached  his  wife,  she  was  greatly  distressed,  and,  by  the  advice 
of  her  friend.  Baron  Riedesel,  resolved  to  visit  the  American 
camp  and  implore  the  favor  of  a  personal  attendance  upon  her 
husband.  On  the  9th  she  sent  a  message  to  Burgoyne  by 
Lord  Petersham,  his  aide,  asking  permission  to  depart.  '  Though 
I  was  ready  to  believe,'  says  Burgoyne,  *  that  patience  and  for- 
titude, in  a  supreme  degree,  were  to  be  found,  as  well  as  every 
other  virtue,  under  the  most  tender  forms,  I  was  astonished  at 
this  proposal.  After  so  long  an  agitation  of  spirits,  exhausted 
not  only  for  want  of  rest,  but  absolutely  want  of  food,  drenched 
in  rain  for  twelve  hours  together,  that  a  woman  should  be  capa- 
of  such  an  undertaking  as  delivering  herself  to  an  enemy,  prob- 
ably in  the  night,  and  uncertain  of  what  hands  she  might  fall 
into,  appeared  an  effort  above  human  nature.  The  assistance 
I  was  enabled  to  give  was  small  indeed.  I  had  not  even  a  cup 
of  wine  to  offer  her.  *  *  *  All  I  could  furnish  to  her  was  an 
open  boat,  and  a  few  lines,  written  upon  dirty  wet  paper,  to 
General  Gates,  recommending  her  to  his  protection.' 

"  The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  note  from  Burgoyne  to  General 
Gates :  *■  Sir, — Lady  Harriet  Ackland,  a  lady  of  the  first  distinc- 
tion of  family,  rank,  and  personal  virtues,  is  under  such  concern 
on  account  of  Major  Ackland,  her  husband,  wounded  and  a  pris- 
oner in  your  hands,  that  1  cannot  refuse  her  request  to  commit 
her  to  your  protection.  Whatever  general  impropriety  there  may 
be  in  persons  in  my  situation  and  yours  to  solicit  favors,  I  can- 
not see  the  uncommon  perseverance  in  every  female  grace  and 
exaltation  of  character  of  this  lady,  and  her  very  hard  fortune, 
without  testifying  that  your  attentions  to  her  will  lay  me  under 
obligations.    I  am,  sir,  your  obedient  servant,  J.  Burgoyne' 

"  She  set  out  in  an  open  boat  upon  the  Hudson,  accompanied 


322  VICTORY  OF  THE  AMERICANS 

by  Mr.  Brudenell  the  chaplain,  Sarah  Pollard  her  waiting-maid, 
and  her  husband's  valet,  who  had  been  severely  wounded  while 
searching  for  his  master  upon  the  battle-field.  It  was  about 
sunset  when  they  started,  and  a  violent  storm  of  rain  and  wind, 
which  had  been  increasing  since  morning,  rendered  the  voyage 
tedious  and  perilous  in  the  extreme.  It  was  long  after  dark 
when  they  reached  the  American  outposts ;  the  sentinel  heard 
their  oars  and  hailed  them.  Lady  Harriet  returned  the  answer 
herself.  The  clear,  silvery  tones  of  a  woman's  voice  amid  the 
darkness  filled  the  soldier  on  duty  with  superstitious  fear,  and 
he  called  a  comrade  to  accompany  him  to  the  river-bank.  The 
errand  of  the  voyagers  was  made  known,  but  the  faithful  guard, 
apprehensive  of  treachery,  would  not  allow  them  to  land  until 
they  sent  for  Major  Dearborn.  *  *  *  They  were  invited  by  that 
officer  to  his  quarters,  where  every  attention  was  paid  to  them, 
and  Lady  Harriet  was  comforted  by  the  joyful  tidings  that  her 
husband  was  safe.  In  the  morning  she  experienced  parental  ten- 
derness from  General  Gates,  who  sent  her  to  her  husband,  at 
Poor's  quarters,  under  a  suitable  escort.  There  she  remained 
until  he  was  removed  to  Albany." 

Burgoyne  now  took  up  his  last  position  on  the  heights  near 
Saratoga ;  and,  hemmed  in  by  the  enemy,  who  refused  any  en- 
\50unter,  and  baffled  in  all  his  attempts  at  finding  a  path  of  es- 
cape, he  there  lingered  until  famine  compelled  him  to  capitulate. 
The  fortitude  of  the  British  army  during  this  melancholy  period 
has  been  justly  eulogized  by  many  native  historians,  but  I  pre- 
fer quoting  the  testimony  of  a  foreign  writer,  as  free  from  all 
possibility  of  partiality.     Botta  says  :  * 

"  It  exceeds  the  power  of  words  to  describe  the  pitiable  con- 
dition to  which  the  British  army  was  now  reduced.  The  troops 
were  worn  down  by  a  series  of  toil,  privation,  sickness,  and  des- 
perate fighting.  They  were  abandoned  by  the  Indians  and  Cana- 
dians ;  and  the  effective  force  of  the  whole  army  was  now  di- 
minished by  repeated  and  heavy  losses,  which  had  principally 
fallen  on  the  best  soldiers  and  the  most  distinguished  officers, 
from  ten  thousand  combatants  to  less  than  one  half  that  num- 
ber. Of  this  remnant  little  more  than  three  thousand  were 
English. 

"  In  these  circumstances,  and  thus  weakened,  they  were  in- 
vested by  an  army  of  four  times  their  own  number,  whose  posi- 
tion extended  three  parts  of- a  circle  round  them  ;  who  refused 

*  Botta,  book  viil 


AT  SARATOGA. 


323 


to  fight  them,  as  knowing  their  weakness,  and  who,  from  the 
nature  of  the  ground,  could  not  be  attacked  in  any  part.  In  this 
helpless  condition,  obliged  to  be  constantly  under  arms   while 


VICINITY    OF    SARATOGA. 


the  enemy's  cannon  played  on  every  part  of  their  camp,  and  even 
the  American  rifle-balls  whistled  in  many  parts  of  the  lines,  the 
troops  of  Burgoyne  retained  their  customary  firmness,  and,  while 


824  VICTORY  OF  THE  AMERICANS 

sinking  under  a  hard  necessity,  they  showed  themselves  worthy 
of  a  better  fate.  They  could  not  be  reproached  with  an  action 
or  a  word  which  betrayed  a  want  of  temper  or  of  fortitude." 

At  length  the  13th  of  October  arrived,  and  as  no  prospect  of 
assistance  appeared,  and  the  provisions  were  nearly  exhausted, 
Burgoyne,  by  the  unanimous  advice  of  a  council  of  war,  sent  a 
messenger  to  the  American  camp  to  treat  of  a  convention. 

General  Gates,  in  the  first  instance,  demanded  that  the  royal 
army  should  surrender  prisoners  of  war.  He  also  proposed 
that  the  British  should  ground  their  arms.  Burgoyne  replied, 
"  This  article  is  inadmissible  in  every  extremity ;  sooner  than 
this  army  will  consent  to  ground  their  arms  in  their  encamp- 
ment, they  will  rush  on  the  enemy,  determined  to  take  no  quar- 
ter." After  various  messages,  a  convention  for  the  surrender  of 
the  army  was  settled,  which  provided  that  "  the  troops  under 
General  Burgoyne  were  to  march  out  of  their  camp  with  the 
honors  of  war,  and  the  artillery  of  the  intrenchments,  to  the 
verge  of  the  river,  where  the  arms  and  artillery  were  to  be  left. 
The  arms  to  be  piled  by  word  of  command  from  their  own  offi- 
cers. A  free  passage  was  to  be  granted  to  the  array  under  Lieu- 
tenant General  Burgoyne  to  Great  Britain,  upon  condition  of  not 
serving  again  in  North  America  during  the  present  contest." 

The  articles  of  capitulation  were  settled  on  the  15th  of  Octo- 
ber ;  and  on  that  very  evening  a  messenger  arrived  from  Clinton 
with  an  account  of  his  successes,  and  with  the  tidings  that  part 
of  his  force  had  penetrated  as  far  as  Esopus,  within  fifty  miles 
of  Burgoyne's  camp.  But  it  was  too  late.  The  public  faith 
was  pledged ;  and  the  army  was,  indeed,  too  debilitated  by 
fatigue  and  hunger  to  resist  an  attack  if  made ;  and  Gates  cer- 
tainly would  have  made  it,  if  the  convention  had  been  broken 
off.  Accordingly,  on  the  17th,  the  convention  of  Saratoga  was 
carried  into  effect.  By  this  convention  5790  men  surrendered 
themselves  as  prisoners.  The  sick  and  wounded  left  in  the  camp 
when  the  British  retreated  to  Saratoga,  together  with  the  num- 
bers of  the  British,  German,  and  Canadian  troops,  who  were 
killed,  wounded,  or  taken,  and  who  had  deserted  in  the  preced- 
ing part  of  the  expedition,  were  reckoned  to  be  4689. 

The  British  sick  and  wounded  who  had  fallen  into  the  hands 
of  the  Americans  after  the  battle  of  the  7th  were  treated  with 
exemplary  humanity  ;  and  when  the  convention  was  executed, 
General  Gates  showed  a  noble  delicacy  of  feeling  which  deserves 
the  highest  degree  of  honor.  Every  circumstance  was  avoided 
which  could  give  the  appearance  of  triumph,     The  American 


AT  SARATOGA.  325 

troops  remained  within  their  lines  until  the  British  had  piled 
their  arms ;  and  when  this  was  done,  the  vanquished  officers  and 
soldiers  were  received  with  friendly  kindness  by  their  victors, 
and  their  immediate  wants  were  promptly  and  liberally  supplied. 
Discussions  and  disputes  afterwards  arose  as  to  some  of  the 
terms  of  the  convention,  and  the  American  Congress  refused 
for  a  long  time  to  carry  into  effect  the  article  which  provided 
for  the  return  of  Burgoyne's  men  to  Europe  ;  but  no  blame  was 
imputable  to  General  Gates  or  his  army,  who  showed  themselves 
to  be  generous  as  they  had  proved  themselves  to  be  brave. 

Gates,  after  the  victory,  immediately  despatched  Colonel  Wil- 
kinson to  carry  the  happy  tidings  to  Congress.  On  being  in- 
troduced into  the  hall,  he  said :  "  The  whole  British  army  has 
laid  down  its  arms  at  Saratoga ;  our  own,  full  of  vigor  and 
courage,  expect  your  order.  It  is  for  your  wisdom  to  decide 
where  the  country  may  still  have  need  for  their  service."  Hon- 
ors and  rewards  were  liberally  voted  by  the  Congress  to  their 
conquering  general  and  his  men;  "and  it  would  be  difficult" 
(says  the  Italian  historian)  "  to  describe  the  transports  of  joy 
which  the  news  of  this  event  excited  among  the  Americans. 
They  began  to  flatter  themselves  with  a  still  more  happy  future. 
No  one  any  longer  felt  any  doubt  about  their  achieving  their 
independence.  All  hoped,  and  with  good  reason,  that  a  success 
of  this  importance  would  at  length  determine  France,  and  the 
other  European  powers  that  waited  for  her  example,  to  declare 
themselves  in  favor  of  America.  There  could  no  longer  be  any 
question  respecting  the  future  ;  since  there  was  no  longer  the  risk 
of  espousing  the  cause  of  a  people  too  feeble  to  defend  themselves^  * 

The  truth  of  this  was  soon  displayed  in  the  conduct  of  France. 
When  the  news  arrived  at  Paris  of  the  capture  of  Ticonderoga, 
and  of  the  victorious  march  of  Burgoyne  towards  Albany,  events 
which  seemed  decisive  in  favor  of  the  English,  instructions  had 
been  immediately  despatched  to  Nantes,  and  the  other  ports  of 
the  kingdom,  that  no  American  privateers  should  be  suffered 
to  enter  them,  except  from  indispensable  necessity,  as  to  repair 
their  vessels,  to  obtain  provisions,  or  to  escape  the  perils  of  the 
sea.  The  American  commissioners  at  Paris,  in  their  disgust 
and  despair,  had  almost  broken  off  all  negotiations  with  the 
French  government ;  and  they  even  endeavored  to  open  com- 
munications with  the  British  ministry.  But  the  British  gov- 
ernment, elated  with  the   first  successes  of  Burgoyne,  refused 

*  Botta.  book  ix. 


326       VICTORY  OF  THE  AMERICANS  AT  SARATOGA. 

to  listen  to  any  overtures  for  accommodation.  But  when  the 
news  of  Saratoga  reached  Paris,  the  whole  scene  was  changed. 
Franklin  and  his  brother  commissioners  found  all  their  diffi- 
culties with  the  French  government  vanish.  The  time  seemed 
to  have  arrived  for  the  House  of  Bourbon  to  take  a  full  revenge 
for  all  its  humiliations  and  losses  in  previous  wars.  In  Decem- 
ber a  treaty  was  arranged,  and  formally  signed  in  the  February 
following,  by  which  France  acknowledged  the  Independent  Unit- 
ed States  of  America.  This  was,  of  course,  tantamount  to  a 
declaration  of  war  with  England.  Spain  soon  followed  France ; 
and  before  long  Holland  took  the  same  course.  Largely  aided 
by  French  fleets  arid  troops,  the  Americans  vigorously  main- 
tained the  war  against  the  armies  which  England,  in  spite  of 
her  European  foes,  continued  to  send  across  the  Atlantic.  But 
the  struggle  was  too  unequal  to  be  maintained  by  this  country 
for  many  years;  and  when  the  treaties  of  1783  restored  peace 
to  the  world,  the  independence  of  the  United  States  was  re- 
luctantly recognized  by  their  ancient  parent  and  recent  enemy, 
England. 

SYNOPSIS   OF   EVENTS  BETWEEN   THE  DEFEAT  OF   BURGOYNE 
AT  SARATOGA,  1777,  AND  THE  BATTLE  OF  VALMY,  1792. 

A.D.  1781.  Surrender  of  Lord  Cornwallis  and  the  British  army 
to  Washington. 

1782.  Rodney's  victory  over  the  Spanish  fleet.     Unsuccess- 
ful siege  of  Gibraltar  by  the  Spaniards  and  French. 

1783.  End  of  the  American  war. 

1788.  The  States -General  are  convened  in  France:    begin- 
ning of  the  Revolution. 


BATTLE  OF  VALMY.  827 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

THE     BATTLE     OF     VALMY. 

"  Purpurei  metuunt  tyranni 
Injurioso  ne  pede  proruas 
Stantem  columnam ;  neu  populus  frequens 
Ad  arma  cessantes  ad  arma 
Concitet,  imperiumque  frangat." 

HoRATius,  Od.  i.,  35. 
"  A  little  fire  is  quickly  trodden  out, 
Which,  being  suffered,  rivers  cannot  quench." 

Shakespkare. 

A  FEW  miles  distant  from  the  little  town  of  St.  Menehould, 
in  the  northeast  of  France,  are  the  village  and  hill  of  Valmy ; 
and  near  the  crest  of  that  hill  a  simple  monument  points  out 
the  burial-place  of  the  heart  of  a  general  of  the  French  repub- 
lic and  a  marshal  of  the  French  empire. 

The  elder  Kellermann  (father  of  the  distinguished  officer  of 
that  name  whose  cavalry  charge  decided  the  battle  of  Marengo) 
held  high  commands  in  the  French  armies  throughout  the  wars 
of  the  Convention,  the  Directory,  the  Consulate,  and  the  Em- 
pire. He  survived  those  wars,  and  the  empire  itself,  dying  in  ex- 
treme old  age  in  1820.  The  last  wish  of  the  veteran  on  his  death- 
bed was  that  his  heart  should  be  deposited  in  the  battle-field  of 
Valmy,  there  to  repose  among  the  remains  of  his  old  companions 
in  arms  who  had  fallen  at  his  side  on  that  spot  twenty-eight 
years  before,  on  the  memorable  day  when  they  won  the  primal  vic- 
tory of  revolutionary  France,  and  prevented  the  armies  of  Bruns- 
wick and  the  emigrant  bands  of  Conde  from  marching  on  defence- 
less Paris  and  destroying  the  immature  democracy  in  its  cradle. 

The  Duke  of  Valmy  (for  Kellermann,  when  made  one  of  Na- 
poleon's military  peers  in  1802,  took  his  title  from  this  same 
battle-field)  had  participated,  during  his  long  and  active  career, 
in  the  gaining  of  many  a  victory  far  more  immediately  dazzling 
than  the  one  the  remembrance  of  which  he  thus  cherished. 
He  had  been  present  at  many  a  scene  of  carnage,  where  blood 
flowed  in  deluges,  compared  with  which  the  libations  of  slaugh- 


328  BATTLE  OF   VALMY. 

ter  poured  out  at  Valmy  would  have  seemed  scant  and  insignifi- 
cant. But  he  rightly  estimated  the  paramount  importance  of 
the  battle  with  which  he  thus  wished  his  appellation  while  liv- 
ing, and  his  memory  after  his  death,  to  be  identified.  The  suc- 
cessful resistance  which  the  new  Carmagnole  levies,  and  the 
disorganized  relics  of  the  old  monarchy's  army,  then  opposed 
to  the  combined  hosts  and  chosen  leaders  of  Prussia,  Austria, 
and  the  French  refugee  noblesse,  determined  at  once  and  for- 
ever the  belligerent  character  of  the  revolution.  The  raw  arti- 
sans and  tradesmen,  the  clumsy  burghers,  the  base  mechanics 
and  low  peasant  churls,  as  it  had  been  the  fashion  to  term  the 
middle  and  lower  classes  in  France,  found  that  they  could  face 
cannon-balls,  pull  triggers,  and  cross  bayonets  without  having 
been  drilled  into  military  machines,  and  without  being  officered 
by  scions  of  noble  houses.  They  awoke  to  the  consciousness 
of  their  own  instinctive  soldiership.  They  at  once  acquired 
confidence  in  themselves  and  in  each  other  ;  and  that  confidence 
soon  grew  into  a  spirit  of  unbounded  audacity  and  ambition. 
"  From  the  cannonade  of  Valmy  may  be  dated  the  commence- 
ment of  that  career  of  victory  which  carried  their  armies  to 
Vienna  and  the  Kremlin."  * 

One  of  the  gravest  reflections  that  arise  from  the  contempla- 
tion of  the  civil  restlessness  and  military  enthusiasm  which  the 
close  of  the  last  century  saw  nationalized  in  France  is  the  con- 
sideration that  these  disturbing  influences  have  become  per- 
petual. No  settled  system  of  government  that  shall  endure 
from  generation  to  generation,  that  shall  be  proof  against  cor- 
ruption and  popular  violence,  seems  capable  of  taking  root 
among  the  French.  And  every  revolutionary  movement  in  Paris 
thrills  throughout  the  rest  of  the  world.  Even  the  successes 
which  the  powers  allied  against  France  gained  in  1814  and 
1815,  important  as  they  were,  could  not  annul  the  effects  of 
the  preceding  twenty-three  years  of  general  convulsion  and  war. 

In  1830,  the  dynasty  which  foreign  bayonets  had  imposed  on 
France  was  shaken  off ;  and  men  trembled  at  the  expected  out- 
break of  French  anarchy  and  the  dreaded  inroads  of  French 
ambition.  They  "  looked  forward  with  harassing  anxiety  to  a 
period  of  destruction  similar  to  that  which  the  Roman  world 
experienced  about  the  middle  of  the  third  century  of  our  era."  f 

*  Alison. 

f  See  Niebuhr's  preface  to  the  second  volume  of  the  *'  History  of  Rome," 
written  in  October,  1830. 


BATTLE  OF   VALMY.  329 

Louis  Philippe  cajoled  revolution,  and  then  strove  with  seeming 
success  to  stifle  it.  But  in  spite  of  Fieschi  laws,  in  spite  of 
the  dazzle  of  Algerian  razzias  and  Pyrenees-effacing  marriages, 
in  spite  of  hundreds  of  armed  forts  and  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  coercing  troops.  Revolution  lived,  and  struggled  to  get  free. 
The  old  Titan  spirit  heaved  restlessly  beneath  "  the  monarchy 
based  on  republican  institutions."  At  last,  four  years  ago,  the 
whole  fabric  of  kingcraft  was  at  once  rent  and  scattered  to  the 
winds  by  the  uprising  of  the  Parisian  democracj^;  and  insur- 
rections, barricades,  and  dethronements,  the  downfall  of  coro- 
nets and  crowns,  the  armed  collisions  of  parties,  systems,  and 
populations,  became  the  commonplaces  of  recent  European 
history. 

France  now  calls  herself  a  republic.  She  first  assumed  that 
title  on  the  20th  of  September,  1792,  on  the  very  day  on  which 
the  battle  of  Valmy  was  fought  and  won.  To  that  battle  the 
democratic  spirit  which  in  1848,  as  well  as  in  1792,  proclaimed 
the  republic  in  Paris,  owed  its  preservation,  and  it  is  thence 
that  the  imperishable  activity  of  its  principles  may  be  dated. 

Far  different  seemed  the  prospects  of  democracy  in  Europe 
on  the  eve  of  that  battle ;  and  far  different  would  have  been 
the  present  position  and  influence  of  the  French  nation  if 
Brunswick's  columns  had  charged  with  more  boldness,  or  the 
lines  of  Dumouriez  resisted  with  less  firmness.  When  France, 
in  1792,  declared  war  with  the  great  powers  of  Europe,  she  was 
far  from  possessing  that  splendid  military  organization  which 
the  experience  of  a  few  revolutionary  campaigns  taught  her  to 
assume,  and  which  she  has  never  abandoned.  The  army  of  the 
old  monarchy  had,  during  the  latter  part  of  the  reign  of  Louis 
XV.,  sunk  into  gradual  decay,  both  in  numerical  force  and  in 
efficiency  of  equipment  and  spirit.  The  laurels  gained  by  the 
auxiliary  regiments  which  Louis  XVL  sent  to  the  American 
war  did  but  little  to  restore  the  general  tone  of  the  army.  The 
insubordination  and  license  which  the  revolt  of  the  French 
guards,  and  the  participation  of  other  troops  in  many  of  the 
first  excesses  of  the  Revolution,  introduced  among  the  soldiery 
were  soon  rapidly  disseminated  through  all  the  ranks.  Under 
the  Legislative  Assembly  every  complaint  of  the  soldier  against 
his  oflBcer,  however  frivolous  or  ill-founded,  was  listened  to  with 
eagerness  and  investigated  with  partiality,  on  the  principles  of 
liberty  and  equality.  Discipline  accordingly  became  more  and 
more  relaxed ;  and  the  dissolution  of  several  of  the  old  corps, 
under  the  pretext  of  their  being  tainted  with  an  aristocratic 


330  BATTLE  OF  VALMY. 

feeling,  aggravated  the  confusion  and  ineflBciency  of  the  War 
Department.  Many  of  the  most  effective  regiments  during  the 
last  period  of  the  monarchy  had  consisted  of  foreigners.  These 
had  either  been  slaughtered  in  defence  of  the  throne  against 
insurrections,  like  the  Swiss ;  or  had  been  disbanded,  and  had 
crossed  the  frontier  to  recruit  the  forces  which  were  assembling 
for  the  invasion  of  France.  Above  all,  the  emigration  of  the 
noblesse  had  stripped  the  French  army  of  nearly  all  its  officers 
of  high  rank^and  of  the  greatest  portion  of  its  subalterns.  More 
than  twelve  thousand  of  the  high-born  youth  of  France,  who 
had  been  trained  to  regard  military  command  as  their  exclusive 
patrimony,  and  to  whom  the  nation  had  been  accustomed  to 
look  up  as  its  natural  guides  and  champions  in  the  storm  of 
war,  were  now  marshalled  beneath  the  banner  of  Conde  and 
the  other  emigrant  princes,  for  the  overthrow  of  the  French 
armies  and  the  reduction  of  the  French  capital.  Their  suc- 
cessors in  the  French  regiments  and  brigades  had  as  yet  ac- 
quired neither  skill  nor  experience :  they  possessed  neither  self- 
reliance  nor  the  respect  of  the  men  who  were  under  them. 

Such  was  the  state  of  the  wrecks  of  the  old  army ;  but  the 
bulk  of  the  forces  with  which  France  began  the  war  consisted 
of  raw  insurrectionary  levies,  which  were  even  less  to  be  de- 
pended on.  The  Carmagnoles,  as  the  revolutionary  volunteers 
were  called,  flocked,  indeed,  readily  to  the  frontier  from  every 
department  when  the  war  was  proclaimed,  and  the  fierce  lead- 
ers of  the  Jacobins  shouted  that  the  country  was  in  danger. 
They  were  full  of  zeal  and  courage,  "  heated  and  excited  by  the 
scenes  of  the  Revolution,  and  inflamed  by  the  florid  eloquence, 
the  songs,  dances,  and  signal-words  with  which  it  had  been 
celebrated."*  But  they  were  utterly  undisciplined,  and  turbu- 
lently  impatient  of  superior  authority  or  systematical  control. 
Many  ruffians,  also,  who  were  sullied  with  participation  in  the 
most  sanguinary  horrors  of  Paris,  joined  the  camps,  and  were 
pre-eminent  alike  for  misconduct  before  the  enemy  and  for  sav- 
age insubordination  against  their  own  officers.  On  one  occa- 
sion during  the  campaign  of  Valmy,  eight  battalions  of  federates, 
intoxicated  with  massacre  and  sedition,  joined  the  forces  under 
Dumouriez,  and  soon  threatened  to  uproot  all  discipline,  saying 
openly  that  the  ancient  officers  were  traitors,  and  that  it  was 
necessary  to  purge  the  army,  as  they  had  Paris,  of  its  aristo- 
crats.    Dumouriez  posted  these  battalions  apart  from  the  others, 

*  Scott,  "  Life  of  Napoleon,"  vol.  i,,  c.  viii. 


BATTLE  OF  VALMY.  331 

placed  a  strong  force  of  cavalry  behind  them,  and  two  pieces 
of  cannon  on  their  flank.  Then,  affecting  to  review  them,  he 
halted  at  the  head  of  the  line,  surrounded  by  all  his  staff,  and 
an  escort  of  a  hundred  hussars.  "  Fellows,"  said  he,  "  for  I 
will  not  call  you  either  citizens  or  soldiers,  you  see  before  you 
this  artillery,  behind  you  this  cavalry ;  you  are  stained  with 
crimes,  and  I  do  not  tolerate  here  assassins  or  executioners.  I 
know  that  there  are  scoundrels  amongst  you  charged  to  excite 
you  to  crime.  Drive  them  from  amongst  you,  or  denounce  them 
to  me,  for  I  shall  hold  you  responsible  for  their  conduct."  * 

One  of  our  recent  historians  of  the  Revolution,  who  narrates 
this  incident,!  thus  apostrophizes  the  French  general : 

"  Patience,  0  Dumouriez  !  This  uncertain  heap  of  shriekers, 
mutineers,  were  they  once  drilled  and  inured,  will  become  a 
phalanxed  mass  of  fighters  ;  and  wheel  and  whirl  to  order 
swiftly,  like  the  wind  or  the  whirlwind  ;  tanned  mustachio- 
figures ;  often  barefoot,  even  barebacked,  with  sinews  of  iron ; 
who  require  only  bread  and  gunpowder ;  very  sons  of  fire  ;  the 
adroitest,  hastiest,  hottest,  ever  seen  perhaps  since  Attila's  time." 

Such  phalanxed  masses  of  fighters  did  the  Carmagnoles  ulti- 
mately become ;  but  France  ran  a  fearful  risk  in  being  obliged 
to  rely  on  them  when  the  process  of  their  transmutation  had 
barely  commenced. 

The  first  events,  indeed,  of  the  war  were  disastrous  and  dis- 
graceful to  France,  even  beyond  what  might  have  been  expected 
from  the  chaotic  state  in  which  it  found  her  armies  as  well  as 
her  government.  In  the  hopes  of  profiting  by  the  unprepared 
state  of  Austria,  then  the  mistress  of  the  Netherlands,  the 
French  opened  the  campaign  of  1792  by  an  invasion  of  Flan- 
ders, with  forces  whose  muster-rolls  showed  a  numerical  over- 
whelming superiority  to  the  enemy,  and  seemed  to  promise  a 
speedy  conquest  of  that  old  battle-field  of  Europe.  But  the  first 
flash  of  an  Austrian  sabre  or  the  first  sound  of  Austrian  gun 
was  enough  to  discomfit  the  French.  Their  first  corps,  four 
thousand  strong,  that  advanced  from  Lille  across  the  frontier, 
came  suddenly  upon  a  far  inferior  detachment  of  the  Austrian 
garrison  of  Tournay.  Not  a  shot  was  fired,  not  a  bayonet 
levelled.  With  one  simultaneous  cry  of  panic  the  French  broke 
and  ran  headlong  back  to  Lille,  where  they  completed  the 
specimen  of  insubordination  which  they  had  given  in  the  field 
by  murdering  their  general  and  several  of  their  chief  oflScers. 

*  Lamartine.  f  Carlyle. 


332  BATTLE  OF   VALMY. 

On  the  same  day,  another  division  under  Biron,  mustering  ten 
thousand  sabres  and  bayonets,  saw  a  few  Austrian  skirmishers 
reconnoitring  their  position.  The  French  advanced  posts  had 
scarcely  given  and  received  a  volley,  and  only  a  few  balls  from 
the  enemy's  field-pieces  had  fallen  among  the  lines,  when  two 
regiments  of  French  dragoons  raised  the  cry,  "  We  are  be- 
trayed," galloped  off,  and  were  followed  in  disgraceful  rout  by 
the  rest  of  the  whole  army.  Similar  panics,  or  repulses  almost 
equally  discreditable,  occurred  whenever  Rochambeau,  or  Luck- 
ner,  or  La  Fayette,  the  earliest  French  generals  in  the  war, 
brought  their  troops  into  the  presence  of  the  enemy. 

Meanwhile,  the  allied  sovereigns  had  gradually  collected  on 
the  Rhine  a  veteran  and  finely  disciplined  army  for  the  invasion 
of  France,  which  for  numbers,  equipment,  and  martial  renown, 
both  of  generals  and  men,  was  equal  to  any  that  Germany  had 
ever  sent  forth  to  conquer.  Their  design  was  to  strike  boldly 
and  decisively  at  the  heart  of  France,  and,  penetrating  the  coun- 
try through  the  Ardennes,  to  proceed  by  Chalons  upon  Paris. 
The  obstacles  that  lay  in  their  way  seemed  insignificant.  The 
disorder  and  imbecility  of  the  French  armies  had  been  even 
augmented  by  the  forced  flight  of  La  Fayette  and  a  sudden 
change  of  generals.  The  only  troops  posted  on  or  near  the 
track  by  which  the  allies  were  about  to  advance  were  the 
twenty -three  thousand  men  at  Sedan,  whom  La  Fayette  had 
commanded,  and  a  corps  of  twenty  thousand  near  Metz,  the 
command  of  which  had  just  been  transferred  from  Luckner  to 
Kellermann.  There  were  only  three  fortresses  which  it  was 
necessary  for  the  allies  to  capture  or  mask — Sedan,  Longwy, 
and  Verdun.  The  defences  and  stores  of  these  three  were 
known  to  be  wretchedly  dismantled  and  insuflBcient ;  and  when 
once  these  feeble  barriers  were  overcome  and  Chalons  reached, 
a  fertile  and  unprotected  country  seemed  to  invite  the  invaders 
to  that  "  military  promenade  to  Paris  "  which  they  gayly  talked 
of  accomplishing. 

At  the  end  of  July  the  allied  army,  having  completed  all  prep- 
arations for  the  campaign,  broke  up  from  its  cantonments,  and, 
marching  from  Luxembourg  upon  Longwy,  crossed  the  French 
frontier.  Sixty  thousand  Prussians,  trained  in  the  school,  and 
many  of  them  under  the  eye,  of  the  Great  Frederick,  heirs  of  the 
glories  of  the  Seven  Years'  War,  and  universally  esteemed  the 
best  troops  in  Europe,  marched  in  one  column  against  the  cen- 
tral point  of  attack.  Forty-five  thousand  Austrians,  the  greater 
part  of  whom  were  picked  troops,  and  had  served  in  the  recent 


BATTLE  OF   VALMY.  333 

Turkish  war,  supplied  two  formidable  corps  that  supported  the 
Hanks  of  the  Prussians.  There  was  also  a  powerful  body  of 
Hessians,  and  leagued  with  the  Germans  against  the  Parisian 
democracy  came  fifteen  thousand  of  the  noblest  and  bravest 
among  the  sons  of  France.  In  these  corps  of  emigrants,  many 
of  the  highest -born  of  the  French  nobility,  scions  of  houses 
whose  chivalric  trophies  had  for  centuries  filled  Europe  with  re- 
nown, served  as  rank  and  file.  They  looked  on  the  road  to 
Paris  as  the  path  which  they  were  to  carve  out  by  their  swords 
to  victory,  to  honor,  to  the  rescue  of  their  king,  to  reunion  with 
their  families,  to  the  recovery  of  their  patrimony,  and  to  the 
restoration  of  their  order.* 

Over  this  imposing  army  the  allied  sovereigns  placed  as  gene- 
ralissimo the  Duke  of  Brunswick,  one  of  the  minor  reigning 
princes  of  Germany,  a  statesman  of  no  mean  capacity,  and  who 
had  acquired  in  the  Seven  Years'  War  a  military  reputation 
second  only  to  that  of  the  Great  Frederick  himself.  He  had 
been  deputed  a  few  years  before  to  quell  the  popular  movements 
which  then  took  place  in  Holland  ;  and  he  had  put  down  the  at- 
tempted revolution  in  that  country  with  a  promptitude  and  com- 
pleteness which  appeared  to  augur  equal  success  to  the  army  that 
now  marched  under  his  orders  on  a  similar  mission  into  France. 

Moving  majestically  forward,  with  leisurely  deliberation  that 
seemed  to  show  the  consciousness  of  superior  strength,  and  a 
steady  purpose  of  doing  their  work  thoroughly,  the  Allies  ap- 
peared before  Longwy  on  the  20th  of  August,  and  the  dispirited 
and  dependent  garrison  opened  the  gates  of  that  fortress  to  them 
after  the  first  shower  of  bombs.  On  the  2d  of  September  the 
still  more  important  stronghold  of  Verdun  capitulated  after 
scarcely  the  shadow  of  resistance. 

Brunswick's  superior  force  was  now  interposed  between  Kel- 
lermann's  troops  on  the  left,  and  the  other  French  army  near 
^edan,  which  La  Fayette's  flight  had,  for  the  time,  left  destitute 
of  a  commander.  It  was  in  the  power  of  the  German  general, 
by  striking  with  an  overwhelming  mass  to  the  right  and  left,  to 
crush  in  succession  each  of  these  weak  armies,  and  the  Allies 
might  then  have  marched  irresistible  and  unresisted  upon  Paris. 
But  at  this  crisis  Dumouriez,  the  new  commander-in-chief  of  the 
French,  arrived  at  the  camp  near  Sedan,  and  commenced  a  series 
of  movements,  by  which  he  reunited  the  dispersed  and  disor- 
ganized forces  of  his  country,  checked  the  Prussian  columns 

♦  See  Scott,  '*  Life  of  Napoleon,"  vol.  i.,  c.  xi. 


334  BATTLE  OF   VALMY. 

at  the  very  moment  when  the  last  obstacles  of  their  triumph 
seemed  to  have  given  way,  and  finally  rolled  back  the  tide  of  in- 
vasion far  across  the  enemy's  frontier. 

The  French  fortresses  had  fallen ;  but  nature  herself  still  of- 
fered to  brave  and  vigorous  defenders  of  the  land  the  means  of  op- 
posing a  barrier  to  the  progress  of  the  Allies.  A  ridge  of  broken 
ground,  called  the  Argonne,  extends  from  the  vicinity  of  Sedan 
towards  the  southwest  for  about  fifteen  or  sixteen  leagues. 
The  country  of  L' Argonne  has  now  been  cleared  and  drained ; 
but  in  1792  it  was  thickly  wooded,  and  the  lower  portions  of 
its  unequal  surface  were  filled  with  rivulets  and  marshes.  It 
thus  presented  a  natural  barrier  of  from  four  to  five  leagues 
broad,  which  was  absolutely  impenetrable  to  an  army,  except 
by  a  few  defiles,  such  as  an  inferior  force  might  easily  fortify  and 
defend.  Dumouriez  succeeded  in  marching  his  army  down 
from  Sedan  behind  the  Argonne,  and  in  occupying  its  passes, 
while  the  Prussians  still  lingered  on  the  northeastern  side  of 
the  forest  line.  Ordering  Kellermann  to  wheel  round  from  Metz 
to  St.  Menehould,  and  the  reinforcements  from  the  interior  and 
extreme  north  also  to  concentrate  at  that  spot,  Dumouriez  trusted 
to  assemble  a  powerful  force  in  the  rear  of  the  southwest  ex- 
tremity of  the  Argonne,  while,  with  the  twenty-five  thousand 
men  under  his  immediate  command,  he  held  the  enemy  at  bay 
before  the  passes,  or  forced  him  to  a  long  circumvolution  round 
one  extremity  of  the  forest  ridge,  during  which  favorable  op- 
portunities of  assailing  his  flank  were  almost  certain  to  occur. 
Dumouriez  fortified  the  principal  defiles,  and  boasted  of  the 
Thermopylae  which  he  had  found  for  the  invaders ;  but  the 
simile  was  nearly  rendered  fatally  complete  for  the  defending 
force.  A  pass,  which  was  thought  of  inferior  importance,  had 
been  but  slightly  manned,  and  an  Austrian  corps  under  Clair- 
fayt  forced  it  after  some  sharp  fighting.  Dumouriez  with  great 
difficulty  saved  himself  from  being  enveloped  and  destroyed  by 
the  hostile  columns  that  now  pushed  through  the  forest.  But 
instead  of  despairing  at  the  failure  of  his  plans,  and  falling  back 
into  the  interior,  to  be  completely  severed  from  Kellermann's 
army,  to  be  hunted  as  a  fugitive  under  the  walls  of  Paris  by  the 
victorious  Germans,  and  to  lose  all  chance  of  ever  rallying  his 
dispirited  troops,  he  resolved  to  cling  to  the  difficult  country  in 
which  the  armies  still  were  grouped,  to  force  a  junction  with 
Kellermann,  and  so  to  place  himself  at  the  head  of  a  force  which 
the  invaders  would  not  dare  to  disregard,  and  by  which  he  might 
drag  them  back  from  the  advance  on  Paris,  which  he  had  not 


BATTLE  OF  VALMY.  335 

been  able  to  bar.  Accordingly,  by  a  rapid  movement  to  the 
south,  during  which,  in  his  own  words,  "  France  was  within  a 
hair's-breadth  of  destruction,"  and  after,  with  difficulty,  check- 
ing several  panics  of  his  troops,  in  which  they  ran  by  thousands 
at  the  sight  of  a  few  Prussian  hussars,  Dumouriez  succeeded  in 
establishing  his  headquarters  in  a  strong  position  at  St.  Mene- 
hould,  protected  by  the  marshes  and  shallows  of  the  rivers  Aisne 
and  Aube,  beyond  which,  to  the  northwest,  rose  a  firm  and  ele- 
vated plateau,  called  Dampierre's  Camp,  admirably  situated  for 
commanding  the  road  by  Chalons  to  Paris,  and  where  he  in- 
tended to  post  Kellermann's  army  so  soon  as  it  camp  up.* 

The  news  of  the  retreat  of  Dumouriez  from  the  Argonne 
passes,  and  of  the  panic  flight  of  some  divisions  of  his  troops, 
spread  rapidly  throughout  the  country ;  and  Kellermann,  who  be- 
lieved that  his  comrade's  army  had  been  annihilated,  and  feared 
to  fall  among  the  victorious  masses  of  the  Prussians,  had  halted 
on  his  march  from  Metz  when  almost  close  to  St.  Menehould. 
He  had  actually  commenced  a  retrograde  movement,  when 
couriers  from  his  commander-in-chief  checked  him  from  that 
fatal  course ;  and  then  continuing  to  wheel  round  the  rear  and 
left  flank  of  the  troops  at  St.  Menehould,  Kellermann,  with  twenty 
thousand  of  the  army  of  Metz,  and  some  thousands  of  volunteers 
who  had  joined  him  in  the  march,  made  his  appearance  to  the 
west  of  Dumouriez,  on  the  very  evening  when  Westerman  and 
Thouvenot,  two  of  the  staff-officers  of  Dumouriez,  galloped  in 
with  the  tidings  that  Brunswick's  army  had  come  through  the 
upper  passes  of  the  Argonne  in  full  force,  and  was  deploying  on 
the  heights  of  La  Lune,  a  chain  of  eminences  that  stretch  ob- 
liquely from  southwest  to  northeast,  opposite  the  high  ground 
which  Dumouriez  held,  and  also  opposite,  but  at  a  short  dis- 
tance from,  the  position  which  Kellermann  was  designed  to  oc- 
cupy. 

The  Allies  were  now,  in  fact,  nearer  to  Paris  than  were  the 
French  troops  themselves ;  but,  as  Dumouriez  had  foreseen, 
Brunswick  deemed  it  unsafe  to  march  upon  the  capital  with  so 
large  a  hostile  force  left  in  his  rear  between  his  advancing  col- 
umns and  his  base  of  operations.  The  young  King  of  Prussia, 
who  was  in  the  allied  camp,  and  the  emigrant  princes  eagerly 
advocated  an  instant  attack  upon  the  nearest  French  general. 

*  Some  late  writers  represent  that  Brunswick  did  not  wish  to  check 
Dumouriez.  There  is  no  sufficient  autliority  for  this  insinuation,  which  seems 
to  have  been  first  prompted  by  a  desire  to  soothe  the  wounded  military  pride 
of  the  Prussians. 


336  BATTLE  OF   VALMY. 

Kellermann  had  laid  himself  unnecessarily  open  by  advancing 
beyond  Dampierre's  Camp,  which  Dumouriez  had  designed  for 
him,  and  moving  forward  across  the  Aube  to  the  plateau  of 
Valmy — a  post  inferior  in  strength  and  space  to  that  which  he 
had  left,  and  which  brought  him  close  upon  the  Prussian  lines, 
leaving  him  separated  by  a  dangerous  interval  from  the  troops 
under  Dumouriez  himself.  It  seemed  easy  for  the  Prussian 
army  to  overwhelm  him  while  thus  isolated,  and  then  they 
might  surround  and  crush  Dumouriez  at  their  leisure. 

Accordingly,  the  right  wing  of  the  allied  army  moved  for- 
ward, in  the  gray  of  the  morning  of  the  20th  of  September,  to 
gain  Kellermann's  left  flank  and  rear,  and  cut  him  off  from  re- 
treat upon  Chalons  ;  while  the  rest  of  the  army,  moving  from  the 
heights  of  La  Lune,  which  here  converge  semicircularly  round 
the  plateau  of  Valmy,  were  to  assail  his  position  in  front,  and 
interpose  between  him  and  Dumouriez.  An  unexpected  col- 
lision between  some  of  the  advanced  cavalry  on  each  side  in  the 
low  ground  warned  Kellermann  of  the  enemy's  approach.  Du- 
mouriez had  not  been  unobservant  of  the  danger  of  his  comrade, 
thus  isolated  and  involved;  and  he  had  ordered  up  troops  to 
support  Kellermann  on  either  flank  in  the  event  of  his  being  at- 
tacked. These  troops,  however,  moved  forward  slowly ;  and 
Kellerman's  army,  ranged  on  the  plateau  of  Valmy,  "  projected 
like  a  cape  into  the  midst  of  the  lines  of  the  Prussian  bayo- 
nets." *  A  thick  autumnal  mist  floated  in  waves  of  vapor  over 
the  plains  and  ravines  that  lay  between  the  two  armies,  leaving 
only  the  crests  and  peaks  of  the  hills  glittering  in  the  early 
light.  About  ten  o'clock  the  fog  began  to  clear  off,  and  then 
the  French  from  their  promontory  saw  emerging  from  the  white 
wreaths  of  mist,  and  glittering  in  the  sunshine,  the  countless 
Prussian  cavalry  which  were  to  envelop  them  as  in  a  net  if  once 
driven  from  their  position,  the  solid  columns  of  the  infantry  that 
moved  forward  as  if  animated  by  a  single  will,  the  bristling 
batteries  of  the  artillery,  and  the  glancing  clouds  of  the  Austrian 
light  troops,  fresh  from  their  contests  with  the  Spahis  of  the 
East. 

The  best  and  bravest  of  the  French  must  have  beheld  this 
spectacle  with  secret  apprehension  and  awe.  However  bold  and 
resolute  a  man  may  be  in  the  discharge  of  duty,  it  is  an  anxious 
and  fearful  thing  to  be  called  on  to  encounter  danger  among 

*  See  Lamartine,  "  Histoire  des  Girondins,"  livre  xvii.  I  have  drawn  much 
of  the  ensuing  description  from  him. 


BATTLE  OF  VALMY.  337 

comrades  of  whose  steadiness  you  can  feel  no  certainty.  Each 
soldier  of  Kellermann's  army  must  have  remembered  the  series  of 
panic  routs  which  had  hitherto  invariably  taken  place  on  the 
French  side  during  the  war ;  and  must  have  cast  restless  glances 
to  the  right  and  left,  to  see  if  any  symptoms  of  wavering  began 
to  show  themselves,  and  to  calculate  how  long  it  was  likely  to 
be  before  a  general  rush  of  his  comrades  to  the  rear  would  either 
hurry  him  off  with  involuntary  disgrace,  or  leave  him  alone  and 
helpless,  to  be  cut  down  by  assailing  multitudes. 

On  that  very  morning,  and  at  the  self-same  hour,  in  which 
the  allied  forces  and  the  emigrants  began  to  descend  from  La 
Lune  to  the  attack  of  Valmy,  and  while  the  cannonade  was 
opening  between  the  Prussian  and  the  Revolutionary  batteries, 
the  debate  in  the  National  Convention  at  Paris  commenced  on 
the  proposal  to  proclaim  France  a  republic. 

The  old  monarchy  had  little  chance  of  support  in  the  hall  of 
the  Convention ;  but  if  its  more  effective  advocates  at  Valmy  had 
triumphed,  there  were  yet  the  elements  existing  in  France  for  a 
permanent  revival  of  the  better  part  of  the  ancient  institutions, 
and  for  substituting  Reform  for  Revolution.  Only  a  few  weeks 
before,  numerously  signed  addresses  from  the  middle  classes  in 
Paris,  Rouen,  and  other  large  cities  had  been  presented  to  the 
king,  expressive  of  their  horror  of  the  anarchists,  and  their 
readiness  to  uphold  the  rights  of  the  crown,  together  with  the 
liberties  of  the  subject.  And  an  armed  resistance  to  the  au- 
thority of  the  Convention,  and  in  favor  of  the  king,  was  in  re- 
ality at  this  time  being  actively  organized  in  La  Vendee  and 
Brittany,  the  importance  of  which  may  be  estimated  from  the 
formidable  opposition  which  the  Royalists  of  these  provinces 
made  to  the  Republican  party  at  a  later  period,  and  under  much 
more  disadvantageous  circumstances.  It  is  a  fact  peculiarly 
illustrative  of  the  importance  of  the  battle  of  Valmy,  that  "  dur- 
ing the  summer  of  1792  the  gentlemen  of  Brittany  entered  into 
an  extensive  association  for  the  purpose  of  rescuing  the  coun- 
try from  the  oppressive  yoke  which  had  been  imposed  by  the 
Parisian  demagogues.  At  the  head  of  the  whole  was  the  Mar- 
quis de  la  Rouarie,  one  of  those  remarkable  men  who  rise  into 
pre-eminence  during  the  stormy  days  of  a  revolution,  from  con- 
scious ability  to  direct  its  current.  Ardent,  impetuous,  and  en- 
thusiastic, he  was  first  distinguished  in  the  American  war,  when 
the  intrepidity  of  his  conduct  attracted  the  admiration  of  the 
Republican  troops,  and  the  same  quality  rendered  him  at  first 
an  ardent  supporter  of  the  Revolution  in  France ;  but  when  the 


338  BATTLE  OF  VALMY. 

atrocities  of  the  people  began,  he  espoused  with  equal  warmth 
the  opposite  side,  and  used  the  utmost  efforts  to  raise  the  noblesse 
of  Brittany  against  the  plebeian  yoke  which  had  been  imposed 
upon  them  by  the  National  Assembly.  He  submitted  his  plan 
to  the  Count  d'Artois,  and  had  organized  one  so  extensive  as 
would  have  proved  extremely  formidable  to  the  Convention  if 
the  retreat  of  the  Duke  of  Brunswick,  in  September,  1792,  had 
not  damped  the  ardor  of  the  whole  of  the  west  of  France,  then 
ready  to  break  out  into  insurrection."  * 

And  it  was  not  only  among  the  zealots  of  the  old  monarchy 
that  the  cause  of  the  king  would  then  have  found  friends.  The 
ineffable  atrocities  of  the  September  massacres  had  just  oc- 
curred, and  the  reaction  produced  by  them  among  thousands 
who  had  previously  been  active  on  the  ultra -democratic  side 
was  fresh  and  powerful.  The  nobility  had  not  yet  been  made 
utter  aliens  in  the  eyes  of  the  nation  by  long  expatriation  and 
civil  war.  There  was  not  yet  a  generation  of  youth  educated  in 
revolutionary  principles,  and  knowing  no  worship  save  that  of 
military  glory.  Louis  XVI.  was  just  and  humane,  and  deeply 
sensible  of  the  necessity  of  a  gradual  extension  of  political 
rights  among  all  classes  of  his  subjects.  The  Bourbon  throne, 
if  rescued  in  1792,  would  have  had  chances  of  stability  such  as 
did  not  exist  for  it  in  1814,  and  seem  never  likely  to  be  found 
again  in  France. 

Serving  under  Kellermann  on  that  day  was  one  who  expe- 
rienced, perhaps  the  most  deeply  of  all  men,  the  changes  for 
good  and  for  evil  which  the  French  Revolution  has  produced. 
He  who,  in  his  second  exile,  bore  the  name  of  the  Count  de 
Neuilly  in  this  country,  and  who  lately  was  Louis  Philippe, 
king  of  the  French,  figured  in  the  French  lines  at  Valmy  as  a 
young  and  gallant  officer,  cool  and  sagacious  beyond  his  years, 
and  trusted  accordingly  by  Kellermann  and  Dumouriez  with  an 
important  station  in  the  national  army.  The  Due  de  Chartres 
(the  title  he  then  bore)  commanded  the  French  right,  General 
Valence  was  on  the  left,  and  Kellermann  himself  took  his  post  in 
the  centre,  which  was  the  strength  and  key  of  his  position. 

Besides  these  celebrated  men,  who  were  in  the  French  army, 
and  besides  the  King  of  Prussia,  the  Duke  of  Brunswick,  and 
other  men  of  rank  and  power  who  were  in  the  lines  of  the 
Allies,  there  was  an  individual  present  at  the  battle  of  Valmy,  of 
little  political  note,  but  who  has  exercised,  and  exercises,  a 

*  Alison,  vol.  iii.,  p.  328. 


BATTLE  OF  VALMY.  339 

greater  influence  over  the  human  mind,  and  whose  fame  is  more 
widely  spread  than  that  of  either  duke  or  general  or  king. 
This  was  the  German  poet  Goethe,  who  had,  out  of  curiosity,  ac- 
companied the  allied  army  on  its  march  into  France  as  a  mere 
spectator.  He  has  given  us  a  curious  record  of  the  sensations 
which  he  experienced  during  the  cannonade.  It  must  be  re- 
membered that  many  thousands  in  the  French  ranks  then,  like 
Goethe,  felt  the  "  cannon-fever  "  for  the  first  time.  The  German 
poet  says :  * 

"  I  had  heard  so  much  of  the  cannon-fever  that  I  wanted  to 
know  what  kind  of  thing  it  was.  Ennui^  and  a  spirit  which 
every  kind  of  danger  excites  to  daring — nay,  even  to  rashness — 
induced  me  to  ride  up  quite  coolly  to  the  outwork  of  La  Lune. 
This  was  again  occupied  by  our  people  ;  but  it  presented  the 
wildest  aspect.  The  roofs  were  shot  to  pieces ;  the  corn-shocks 
scattered  about,  the  bodies  of  men,  mortally  wounded,  stretched 
upon  them  here  and  there  ;  and  occasionally  a  spent  cannon-ball 
fell  and  rattled  among  the  ruins  of  the  tile  roofs. 

"  Quite  alone,  and  left  to  myself,  I  rode  away  on  the  heights 
to  the  left,  and  could  plainly  survey  the  favorable  position  of 
the  French ;  they  were  standing  in  the  form  of  a  semicircle  in 
the  greatest  quiet  and  security ;  Kellermann,  then  on  the  left 
wing,  being  the  easiest  to  reach. 

"  I  fell  in  with  good  company  on  the  way,  officers  of  my 
acquaintance,  belonging  to  the  general  staff  and  the  regiment, 
greatly  surprised  to  find  me  here.  They  wanted  to  take  me 
back  again  with  them ;  but  I  spoke  to  them  of  particular  ob- 
jects I  had  in  view,  and  they  left  me  without  further  dissuasion, 
to  my  well-known  singular  caprice. 

"  I  had  now  arrived  quite  in  the  region  where  the  balls  were 
playing  across  me :  the  sound  of  them  is  curious  enough,  as  if 
it  were  composed  of  the  humming  of  tops,  the  gurgling  of  wa- 
ter, and  the  whistling  of  birds.  They  were  less  dangerous,  by 
reason  of  the  wetness  of  the  ground :  wherever  one  fell,  it  stuck 
fast.  And  thus  my  foolish  experimental  ride  was  secured  against 
the  danger,  at  least,  of  the  balls  rebounding. 

"  In  the  midst  of  these  circumstances,  I  was  soon  able  to  re- 
mark that  something  unusual  was  taking  place  within  me.  I 
paid  close  attention  to  it,  and  still  the  sensation  can  be  de- 
scribed only  by  similitude.  It  appeared  as  if  you  were  in  some 
extremely  hot  place,  and,  at  the  same  time,  quite  penetrated  by 

*  Goethe's  "  Campaign  in  France  in  1792  "  (Farie's  translation),  p.  77. 


340  BATTLE  OF  VALMY, 

the  heat  of  it,  so  that  you  feel  yourself,  as  it  were,  quite  one 
with  the  element  in  which  you  are.  The  eyes  lose  nothing  of 
their  strength  or  clearness ;  but  it  is  as  if  the  world  had  a  kind 
of  brown-red  tint,  which  makes  the  situation,  as  well  as  the  sur- 
rounding objects,  more  impressive.  I  was  unable  to  perceive 
any  agitation  of  the  blood ;  but  everything  seemed  rather  to  be 
swallowed  up  in  the  glow  of  which  I  speak.  From  this,  then, 
it  is  clear  in  what  sense  this  condition  can  be  called  a  fever.  It 
i^  remarkable,  however,  that  the  horrible  uneasy  feeling  arising 
from  it  is  produced  in  us  solely  through  the  ears ;  for  the  can- 
non-thunder, the  howling  and  crashing  of  the  balls  through  the 
air,  is  the  real  cause  of  these  sensations. 

"  After  I  had  ridden  back  and  was  in  perfect  security,  I  re- 
marked with  surprise  that  the  glow  was  completely  extinguished, 
and  not  the  slightest  feverish  agitation  was  left  behind.  On  the 
whole,  this  condition  is  one  of  the  least  desirable ;  as,  indeed, 
among  my  dear  and  noble  comrades  I  found  scarcely  one  who 
expressed  a  really  passionate  desire  to  try  it." 

Contrary  to  the  expectations  of  both  friends  and  foes,  the 
French  infantry  held  their  ground  steadily  under  the  fire  of  the 
Prussian  guns,  which  thundered  on  them  from  La  Lune ;  and 
their  own  artillery  replied  with  equal  spirit  and  greater  efEect  on 
the  denser  masses  of  the  allied  army.  Thinking  that  the  Prus- 
sians were  slackening  in  their  fire,  Kellermann  formed  a  column 
in  charging  order,  and  dashed  down  into  the  valley,  in  the  hopes 
of  capturing  some  of  the  nearest  guns  of  the  enemy.  A  masked 
battery  opened  its  fire  on  the  French  column,  and  drove  it  back 
in  disorder,  Kellermann  having  his  horse  shot  under  him,  and 
being  with  diflSculty  carried  off  by  his  men.  The  Prussian  col- 
umns now  advanced  in  turn.  The  French  artillerymen  began  to 
waver  and  desert  their  posts,  but  were  rallied  by  the  efforts  and 
example  of  their  officers ;  and  Kellermann,  reorganizing  the  line 
of  his  infantry,  took  his  station  in  the  ranks  on  foot,  and  called 
out  to  his  men  to  let  the  enemy  come  close  up,  and  then  to 
charge  them  with  the  bayonet.  The  troops  caught  the  enthusi- 
asm of  their  general,  and  a  cheerful  shout  of  Vive  la  nation/ 
taken  by  one  battalion  from  another,  pealed  across  the  valley  to 
the  assailants.  The  Prussians  flinched  from  a  charge  up-hill 
against  a  force  that  seemed  so  resolute  and  formidable;  they 
halted  for  a  while  in  the  hollow,  and  then  slowly  retreated  up 
their  own  side  of  the  valley.  • 

Indignant  at  being  thus  repulsed  by  such  a  foe,  the  King  of 
Prussia  formed  the  flower  of  his  men  in  person,  and,  riding 


BATTLE  OF  VALMY.  341 

along  the  column,  bitterly  reproached  them  with  letting  their 
standard  be  thus  humiliated.  Then  he  led  them  on  again  to  the 
attack,  marching  in  the  front  line,  and  seeing  his  staff  mowed 
down  around  him  by  the  deadly  fire  which  the  French  artillery 
reopened.  But  the  troops  sent  by  Dumouriez  were  now  co- 
operating effectually  with  Kellermann ;  and  that  general's  own 
men,  flushed  by  success,  presented  a  firmer  front  than  ever. 
Again  the  Prussians  retreated,  leaving  eight  hundred  dead  be- 
hind, and  at  nightfall  the  French  remained  victors  on  the  heights 
of  Valmy. 

All  hopes  of  crushing  the  revolutionary  armies,  and  of  the 
promenade  to  Paris,  had  now  vanished,  though  Brunswick  lin- 
gered long  in  the  Argonne,  till  distress  and  sickness  wasted 
away  his  once  splendid  force,  and  finally  but  a  mere  wreck  of 
it  recrossed  the  frontier.  France,  meanwhile,  felt  that  she 
possessed  a  giant's  strength,  and  like  a  giant  did  she  use  it. 
Before  the  close  of  that  year,  all  Belgium  obeyed  the  National 
Convention  at  Paris,  and  the  kings  of  Europe,  after  the  lapse  of 
eighteen  centuries,  trembled  once  more  before  a  conquering 
military  republic. 

Goethe's  description  of  the  cannonade  has  been  quoted.  His 
observation  to  his  comrades  in  the  camp  of  the  Allies,  at  the  end 
of  the  battle,  deserves  citation  also.  It  shows  that  the  poet  felt 
(and,  probably,  he  alone  of  the  thousands  there  assembled  felt) 
the  full  importance  of  that  day.  He  describes  the  consternation 
and  the  change  of  demeanor  which  he  observed  among  his  Prus- 
sian friends  that  evening.  He  tells  us  that  "  most  of  them  were 
silent ;  and,  in  fact,  the  power  of  reflection  and  judgment  was 
wanting  to  all.  At  last  I  was  called  upon  to  say  what  I  thought 
of  the  engagement ;  for  I  had  been  in  the  habit  of  enlivening 
and  amusing  the  troop  with  short  sayings.  This  time  I  said : 
'  From  this  place^  and  from  this  day  forth,  commences  a  new  era 
in  the  world'' s  history  ;  and  you  can  all  say  that  you  were  present 
at  its  birth.''  " 


SYNOPSIS  OF  EVENTS  BETWEEN  THE  BATTLE  OF  VALMY,  1792, 
AND  THE  BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO,  1815. 

A.D.  1793.  Trial  and  execution  of  Louis  XVI.  at  Paris.  Eng- 
land and  Spain  declare  war  against  France.  Royalist  war  in  La 
Vendee.     Second  invasion  of  France  by  the  Allies. 

1794.  Lord  Howe's  victory  over  the  French  fleet.  Final  par- 
tition of  Poland  by  Russia,  Prussia,  and  Austria. 


342  BATTLE  OF  VALMY. 

1795.  The  French  armies  under  Pichegru  conquer  Holland. 
Cessation  of  the  war  in  La  Vendee. 

1796.  Bonaparte  commands  the  French  army  of  Italy,  and 
gains  repeated  victories  over  the  Austrians. 

1797.  Victory  of  Jervis,  off  Cape  St.  Vincent.  Peace  of 
Campo  Formio  between  France  and  Austria.  Defeat  of  the 
Dutch  off  Camperdown  by  Admiral  Duncan. 

1798.  Rebellion  in  Ireland.  Expedition  of  the  French  under 
Bonaparte  to  Egypt.  Lord  Nelson  destroys  the  French  fleet  at 
the  battle  of  the  Nile. 

1799.  Renewal  of  the  war  between  Austria  and  France.  The 
Russian  emperor  sends  an  army  in  aid  of  Austria,  under  Suwar- 
row.  The  French  are  repeatedly  defeated  in  Italy.  Bonaparte 
returns  from  Egypt  and  makes  himself  First  Consul  of  France. 
Massena  wins  the  battle  of  Zurich.  The  Russian  emperor  makes 
peace  with  France. 

1800.  Bonaparte  passes  the  Alps  and  defeats  the  Austrians 
at  Marengo.     Moreau  wins  the  battle  of  Hohenlinden. 

1801.  Treaty  of  Luneville  between  France  and  Austria.  The 
battle  of  Copenhagen. 

1802.  Peace  of  Amiens. 

1803.  War  between  England  and  France  renewed. 

1804.  Napoleon  Bonaparte  is  made  emperor  of  France. 

1805.  Great  preparations  of  Napoleon  to  invade  England. 
Austria,  supported  by  Russia,  renews  war  with  France.  Napo- 
leon marches  into  Germany,  takes  Vienna,  and  gains  the  battle 
of  Austerlitz.  Lord  Nelson  destroys  the  combined  French  and 
Spanish  fleets,  and  is  killed  at  the  battle  of  Trafalgar. 

1806.  War  between  Prussia  and  France.  Napoleon  conquers 
Prussia  in  the  battle  of  Jena. 

1807.  Obstinate  warfare  between  the  French  and  Russian 
armies  in  East  Prussia  and  Poland.     Peace  of  Tilsit. 

1808.  Napoleon  endeavors  to  make  his  brother  King  of 
Spain.  Rising  of  the  Spanish  nation  against  him.  England 
sends  troops  to  aid  the  Spaniards.  Battles  of  Vimiera  and  Co- 
runna. 

1809.  War  renewed  between  France  and  Austria.  Battles  of 
Asperne  and  Wagram.  Peace  granted  to  Austria.  Lord  Wel- 
lington's victory  of  Talavera,  in  Spain. 

1810.  Marriage  of  Napoleon  and  the  Archduchess  Maria 
Louisa.     Holland  annexed  to  France. 

1812.  War  between  England  and  the  United  States.  Napo- 
leon invades  Russia.     Battle  of  Borodino.     The  French  occupy 


BATTLE  OF  VALMY.  343 

Moscow,  which  is  burned.     Disastrous  retreat  and  almost  total 
destruction  of  the  great  army  of  France. 

1813.  Prussia  and  Austria  take  up  arms  again  against  France. 
Battles  of  Lutzen,  Bautzen,  Dresden,  Culm,  and  Leipsic.  The 
French  are  driven  out  of  Germany.  Lord  Wellington  gains  the 
great  battle  of  Vittoria,  which  completes  the  rescue  of  Spain 
from  France. 

1814.  The  Allies  invade  France  on  the  eastern,  and  Lord 
Wellington  invades  it  on  the  southern,  frontier.  Battles  of 
Laon,  Montmirail,  Arcis-sur-Aube,  and  others  in  the  northeast 
of  France ;  and  of  Toulouse  in  the  south.  Paris  surrenders  to 
the  Allies,  and  Napoleon  abdicates.  First  restoration  of  the 
Bourbons.  Napoleon  goes  to  the  isle  of  Elba,  which  is  assigned 
to  him  by  the  Allies.  Treaty  of  Ghent,  between  the  United 
States  and  England. 

1815.  Napoleon  suddenly  escapes  from  Elba,  and  lands  in 
France.  The  French  soldiery  join  him,  and  Louis  XVIIL  is 
obliged  to  fly  from  the  throne. 


344  BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE    BATTLE    OF    WATERLOO,    1815. 

"Thou  first  and  last  of  fields,  king-making  victory." — Byron. 

England  has  now  been  blessed  with  thirty-seven  years  of  peace. 
At  no  other  period  of  her  history  can  a  similarly  long  cessation 
from  a  state  of  warfare  be  found.  It  is  true  that  our  troops 
have  had  battles  to  fight  during  this  interval  for  the  protection 
and  extension  of  our  Indian  possessions  and  our  colonies ;  but 
these  have  been  with  distant  and  unimportant  enemies.  The 
danger  has  never  been  brought  near  our  own  shores,  and  no 
matter  of  vital  importance  to  our  empire  has  ever  been  at  stake. 
We  have  not  had  hostilities  with  either  France,  America,  or 
Russia;  and  when  not  at  war  with  any  of  our  peers,  we  feel 
ourselves  to  be  substantially  at  peace.  There  has,  indeed, 
throughout  this  long  period,  been  no  great  war,  like  those  with 
which  the  previous  history  of  modern  Europe  abounds.  There 
have  been  formidable  collisions  between  particular  states;  and 
there  have  been  still  more  formidable  collisions  between  the 
armed  champions  of  the  conflicting  principles  of  absolutism  and 
democracy ;  but  there  has  been  no  general  war,  like  those  of  the 
French  Revolution,  like  the  American,  or  the  Seven  Years'  War, 
or  like  the  War  of  the  Spanish  Succession.  It  would  be  far  too 
much  to  augur  from  this  that  no  similar  wars  will  again  convulse 
the  world ;  but  the  value  of  the  period  of  peace  which  Europe 
has  gained  is  incalculable,  even  if  we  look  on  it  as  only  a  truce, 
and  expect  again  to  see  the  nations  of  the  earth  recur  to  what 
some  philosophers  have  termed  man's  natural  state  of  warfare. 

No  equal  number  of  years  can  be  found  during  which  science, 
commerce,  and  civilization  have  advanced  so  rapidly  and  so  ex- 
tensively as  has  been  the  case  since  1815.  When  we  trace  their 
progress,  especially  in  this  country,  it  is  impossible  not  to  feel 
that  their  wondrous  development  has  been  mainly  due  to  the 
land  having  been  at  peace.*     Their  good  effects  cannot  be  ob- 

*  See  the  excellent  introduction  to  Mr.  Charles  Knight's  "  History  of  the 
Thirty  Years'  Peace." 


BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO.  345 

literated,  even  if  a  series  of  wars  were  to  recommence.  When 
we  reflect  on  this,  and  contrast  these  thirty -seven  years  with  the 
period  that  preceded  them — a  period  of  violence,  of  tumult,  of 
unrestingly  destructive  energy ;  a  period  throughout  which  the 
wealth  of  nations  was  scattered  like  sand,  and  the  blood  of  na- 
tions lavished  like  water — it  is  impossible  not  to  look  with  deep 
interest  on  the  final  crisis  of  that  dark  and  dreadful  epoch ;  the 
crisis  out  of  which  our  own  happier  cycle  of  years  has  been 
evolved.  The  great  battle  which  ended  the  twenty-three  years' 
war  of  the  first  French  Revolution,  and  which  quelled  the  man 
whose  genius  and  ambition  had  so  long  disturbed  and  desolated 
the  world,  deserves  to  be  regarded  by  us,  not  only  with  peculiar 
pride,  as  one  of  our  greatest  national  victories,  but  with  peculiar 
gratitude  for  the  repose  which  it  secured  for  us,  and  for  the 
greater  part  of  the  human  race. 

One  good  test  for  determining  the  importance  of  Waterloo  is 
to  ascertain  what  was  felt  by  wise  and  prudent  statesmen,  before 
that  battle,  respecting  the  return  of  Napoleon  from  Elba  to  the 
imperial  throne  of  France,  and  the  probable  effects  of  his  suc- 
cess. For  this  purpose  I  will  quote  the  words,  not  of  any  of 
our  vehement  anti-Gallican  politicians  of  the  school  of  Pitt,  but 
of  a  leader  of  our  Liberal  party — of  a  man  whose  reputation  as  a 
jurist,  an  historian,  and  a  far-sighted  and  candid  statesman  was, 
and  is,  deservedly  high,  not  only  in  this  country,  but  through- 
out Europe.  Sir  James  Mackintosh,  in  the  debate  in  the  British 
House  of  Commons,  on  the  20th  Apri\,  1815,  spoke  thus  of  the 
return  from  Elba : 

"  Was  it  in  the  power  of  language  to  describe  the  evil  ?  Wars 
which  had  raged  for  more  than  twenty  years  throughout  Europe  ; 
which  had  spread  blood  and  desolation  from  Cadiz  to  Moscow, 
and  from  Naples  to  Copenhagen ;  which  had  wasted  the  means 
of  human  enjoyment,  and  destroyed  the  instruments  of  social 
improvement ;  which  threatened  to  diffuse  among  the  European 
nations  the  dissolute  and  ferocious  habits  of  a  predatory  sol- 
diery— at  length,  by  one  of  those  vicissitudes  which  bid  defiance 
to  the  foresight  of  man,  had  been  brought  to  a  close,  upon  the 
whole,  happy  beyond  all  reasonable  expectation,  with  no  violent 
shock  to  national  independence,  with  some  tolerable  compromise 
between  the  opinions  of  the  age  and  reverence  due  to  ancient 
institutions ;  with  no  too  signal  or  mortifying  triumph  over  the 
legitimate  interests  or  avowable  feelings  of  any  numerous  body 
of  men  ;  and,  above  all,  without  those  retaliations  against  nations 
or  parties  which  beget  new  convulsions,  often  as  horrible  as 


346  BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO. 

those  which  they  close,  and  perpetuate  revenge  and  hatred  and 
bloodshed  from  age  to  age.  Europe  seemed  to  breathe  after 
her  sufferings.  In  the  midst  of  this  fair  prospect,  and  of  these 
consolatory  hopes,  Napoleon  Bonaparte  escaped  from  Elba ;  three 
small  vessels  reached  the  coast  of  Provence ;  our  hopes  are  in- 
stantly dispelled ;  the  work  of  our  toil  and  fortitude  is  undone ; 
the  blood  of  Europe  is  spilt  in  vain — 

"  '  Ibi  omnis  effusus  labor !' " 


The  congress  of  emperors,  kings,  princes,  generals,  and  states- 
men who  had  assembled  at  Vienna  to  remodel  the  world  after 
the  overthrow  of  the  mighty  conqueror,  and  who  thought  that 
Napoleon  had  passed  away  forever  from  the  great  drama  of 
European  politics,  had  not  yet  completed  their  triumphant  fes- 
tivities and  their  diplomatic  toils,  when  Talleyrand,  on  the  11th 
of  March,  1815,  rose  up  among  them  and  announced  that  the 
ex-emperor  had  escaped  from  Elba,  and  was  emperor  of  France 
once  more.  It  is  recorded  by  Sir  Walter  Scott,  as  a  curious 
physiological  fact,  that  the  first  effect  of  the  news  of  an  event 
which  threatened  to  neutralize  all  their  labors  was  to  excite  a 
loud  burst  of  laughter  from  nearly  every  member  of  the  con- 
gress.* But  the  jest  was  a  bitter  one ;  and  they  soon  were 
deeply  busied  in  anxious  deliberations  respecting  the  mode  in 
which  they  should  encounter  their  arch-enemy,  who  had  thus 
started  from  torpor  and  obscurity  into  renovated  splendor  and 
strength : 

"Qualis  ubi  in  lucem  coluber  mala  gramina  pastus, 
Frigida  sub  terra  tumidura  quern  bruma  tegebat, 
Nunc  positis  novus  exuviis  nitidusque  juvent^, 
Lubrica  convolvit  sublato  pectore  terga 
Arduus  ad  solem,  et  Unguis  micat  ore  trisulcis." 

Virgil,  .^En. 

Napoleon  sought  to  disunite  the  formidable  confederacy, 
which  he  knew  would  be  arrayed  against  him,  by  endeavoring 
to  negotiate  separately  with  each  of  the  allied  sovereigns.  It  is 
said  that  Austria  and  Russia  were  at  first  not  unwilling  to  treat 
with  him.  Disputes  and  jealousies  had  been  rife  among  several 
of  the  Allies  on  the  subject  of  the  division  of  the  conquered 
countries ;  and  the  cordial  unanimity  with  which  they  had  acted 

*  "  Life  of  Napoleon,"  vol.  viii.,  chap,  i. 


BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO.  347 

during  1813  and  the  first  months  of  1814  had  grown  chill  dur- 
ing some  weeks  of  discussions.  But  the  active  exertions  of 
Talleyrand,  who  represented  Louis  XVIII.  at  the  congress,  and 
who  both  hated  and  feared  Napoleon  with  all  the  intensity  of 
which  his  powerful  spirit  was  capable,  prevented  the  secession 
of  any  member  of  the  congress  from  the  new  great  league  against 
their  ancient  enemy.  Still,  it  is  highly  probable  that  if  Napo- 
leon had  triumphed  in  Belgium  over  the  Prussians  and  the  Eng- 
lish, he  would  have  succeeded  in  opening  negotiations  with  the 
Austrians  and  Russians ;  and  he  might  have  thus  gained  advan- 
tages similar  to  those  which  he  had  obtained  on  his  return  from 
Egypt,  when  he  induced  the  Czar  Paul  to  withdraw  the  Russian 
armies  from  co-operating  with  the  other  enemies  of  France  in 
the  extremity  of  peril  to  which  she  seemed  reduced  in  1799. 
But  fortune  now  had  deserted  him,  both  in  diplomacy  and  in  war. 
On  the  13th  of  March,  1815,  the  ministers  of  the  seven  pow- 
ers, Austria,  Spain,  England,  Portugal,  Prussia,  Russia,  and  Swe- 
den, signed  a  manifesto  by  which  they  declared  Napoleon  an 
outlaw ;  and  this  denunciation  was  instantly  followed  up  by  a 
treaty  between  England,  Austria,  Prussia,  and  Russia  (to  which 
other  powers  soon  acceded),  by  which  the  rulers  of  those  coun- 
tries bound  themselves  to  enforce  that  decree,  and  to  prosecute 
the  war  until  Napoleon  should  be  driven  from  the  throne  of 
France  and  rendered  incapable  of  disturbing  the  peace  of  Eu- 
rope. The  Duke  of  Wellington  was  the  representative  of  Eng- 
land at  the  Congress  of  Vienna,  and  he  was  immediately  applied 
to  for  his  advice  on  the  plan  of  military  operations  against 
France.  It  was  obvious  that  Belgium  would  be  the  first  battle- 
field ;  and  by  the  general  wish  of  the  Allies,  the  English  duke 
proceeded  thither  to  assemble  an  army  from  the  contingents  of 
Dutch,  Belgian,  and  Hanoverian  troops,  that  were  most  speedily 
available,  and  from  the  English  regiments  which  his  own  gov- 
ernment was  hastening  to  send  over  from  this  country.  A 
strong  Prussian  corps  was  near  Aix-la-Chapelle,  having  remained 
there  since  the  campaign  of  the  preceding  year.  This  was 
largely  reinforced  by  other  troops  of  the  same  nation ;  and 
Marshal  Blucher,  the  favorite  hero  of  the  Prussian  soldiery,  and 
the  deadliest  foe  of  France,  assumed  the  command  of  this  army, 
which  was  termed  the  Army  of  the  Lower  Rhine,  and  which,  in 
conjunction  with  Wellington's  forces,  was  to  make  the  van  of  the 
armaments  of  the  allied  powers.  Meanwhile  Prince  Schwartz- 
enberg  was  to  collect  130,000  Austrians,  and  124,000  troops 
of  other  Germanic  states,  as  "  the  Army  of  the  Upper  Rhine ;" 


348  BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO. 

and  168,000  Russians,  under  the  command  of  Barclay  de  Toily, 
were  to  form  "  the  Army  of  the  Middle  Rhine,"  and  to  repeat 
the  march  from  Muscovy  to  that  river's  banks. 

The  exertions  which  the  allied  powers  thus  made  at  this 
crisis  to  grapple  promptly  with  the  French  emperor  have  truly 
been  termed  gigantic ;  and  never  were  Napoleon's  genius  and 
activity  more  signally  displayed  than  in  the  celerity  and  skill  by 
which  he  brought  forward  all  the  military  resources  of  France, 
which  the  reverses  of  the  three  preceding  years,  and  the  pacific 
policy  of  the  Bourbons  during  the  months  of  their  first  restora- 
tion, had  greatly  diminished  and  disorganized.  He  re-entered 
Paris  on  the  20th  of  March,  and  by  the  end  of  May,  besides  send- 
ing a  force  into  La  Vendee  to  put  down  the  armed  risings  of  the 
royalists  in  that  province,  and  besides  providing  troops  under 
Massena  and  Suchet  for  the  defence  of  the  southern  frontiers 
of  France,  Napoleon  had  an  army  assembled  in  the  northeast 
for  active  operations  under  his  own  command,  which  amounted 
to  between  one  hundred  and  twenty  and  one  hundred  and 
thirty  thousand  men,  with  a  superb  park  of  artillery  and  in  the 
highest  possible  state  of  equipment,  discipline,  and  efficiency.* 

The  approach  of  the  multitudinous  Russian,  Austrian,  Bava- 
rian, and  other  foes  of  the  French  emperor  to  the  Rhine  was 
necessarily  slow ;  but  the  two  most  active  of  the  allied  powers 
had  occupied  Belgium  with  their  troops,  while  Napoleon  was 
organizing  his  forces.  Marshal  Bliicher  was  there  with  one 
hundred  and  sixteen  thousand  Prussians ;  and,  before  the  end 
of  May,  the  Duke  of  Wellington  was  there  also  with  about  one 
hundred  and  six  thousand  troops,  either  British  or  in  British 
pay.f  Napoleon  determined  to  attack  these  enemies  in  Bel- 
gium. The  disparity  of  numbers  was  indeed  great,  but  delay  was 
sure  to  increase  the  proportionate  numerical  superiority  of  his 
enemies  over  his  own  ranks.  The  French  emperor  considered 
also  that  "the  enemy's  troops  were  now  cantoned  under  the  com- 
mand of  two  generals,  and  composed  of  nations  differing  both  in 
interest  and  in  feelings."];  His  own  array  was  under  his  own 
sole  command.     It  was  composed  exclusively  of  French  soldiers, 

*  See  for  these  numbers  Siborne's  "  History  of  the  Campaign  of  Waterloo," 
vol.  i.,  p.  41. 

f  Ibid.,  vol.  i.,  chap.  iii.  Wellington  had  but  a  small  part  of  his  old  Penin- 
sular army  in  Belgium.  The  flower  of  it  had  been  sent  on  the  expeditions 
against  America.  His  troops,  in  1815,  were  chiefly  second  battalions,  or 
regiments  lately  filled  up  with  new  recruits.     See  Scott,  vol.  viii.,  p.  474. 

X  See  "  Montholon's  Memoirs,"  p.  45. 


BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO.  349 

mostly  of  veterans,  well  acquainted  with  their  officers  and  with 
each  other,  and  full  of  enthusiastic  confidence  in  their  com- 
mander. If  he  could  separate  the  Prussians  from  the  British, 
so  as  to  attack  each  singly,  he  felt  sanguine  of  success,  not  only 
against  these  the  most  resolute  of  his  many  adversaries,  but  also 
against  the  other  masses  that  were  slowly  laboring  up  against 
his  eastern  dominions. 

The  triple  chain  of  strong  fortresses  which  the  French  pos- 
sessed on  the  Belgian  frontier  formed  a  curtain  behind  which 
Napoleon  was  able  to  concentrate  his  army,  and  to  conceal,  till 
the  very  last  moment,  the  precise  line  of  attack  which  he  in- 
tended to  take.  On  the  other  hand,  Bliicher  and  Wellington 
were  obliged  to  canton  their  troops  along  a  line  of  open  coun- 
try of  considerable  length,  so  as  to  watch  for  the  outbreak  of 
Napoleon  from  whichever  point  of  his  chain  of  strongholds  he 
should  please  to  make  it.  Bliicher,  with  his  army,  occupied  the 
banks  of  the  Sambre  and  the  Meuse,  from  Liege  on  his  left,  to 
Charleroi  on  his  right;  and  the  Duke  of  Wellington  covered 
Brussels,  his  cantonments  being  partly  in  front  of  that  city 
and  between  it  and  the  French  frontier,  and  partly  on  its  west ; 
their  extreme  right  reaching  to  Courtray  and  Tournay,  while 
the  left  approached  Charleroi  and  communicated  with  the  Prus- 
sian right.  It  was  upon  Charleroi  that  Napoleon  resolved  to 
level  his  attack,  in  hopes  of  severing  the  two  allied  armies  from 
each  other,  and  then  pursuing  his  favorite  tactics  of  assailing 
each  separately  with  a  superior  force  on  the  battle-field,  though 
the  aggregate  of  their  numbers  considerably  exceeded  his  ow^n. 

The  first  French  corps  d'armee,  commanded  by  Count  d'Erlon, 
was  stationed,  in  the  beginning  of  June,  in  and  around  the  city 
of  Lille,  near  to  the  northeastern  frontier  of  France.  The  sec- 
ond corps,  under  Count  Reille,  was  at  Valenciennes,  to  the  right 
of  the  first  one.  The  third  corps,  under  Count  Vandamme,  was 
at  Mezieres.  The  fourth,  under  Count  Gerard,  had  its  head- 
quarters at  Metz;  and  the  sixth,*  under  Count  Lobau,  was  at 
Laon.  Four  corps  of  reserve  cavalry,  under  Marshal  Grouchy, 
were  also  near  the  frontier,  between  the  rivers  Aisne  and  Sam- 
bre. The  Imperial  Guard  remained  in  Paris  until  the  8th  of 
June,  when  it  marched  towards  Belgium,  and  reached  Avesnes 
on  the  13th;  and  in  the  course  of  the  same  and  the  following 
day,  the  five  corps  d'armee,  with  the  cavalry  reserves  which  have 
been  mentioned,  were,  in  pursuance  of  skilfully  combined  orders, 

*  The  fiftli  corps  was  under  Count  Rapp  at  Strasburg. 


360  BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO. 

rapidly  drawn  together,  and  concentrated  in  and  around  the 
same  place,  on  the  right  bank  of  the  river  Sambre.  On  the  14th 
Napoleon  arrived  among  his  troops,  who  were  exulting  at  the 
display  of  their  commander's  skill  in  the  celerity  and  precision 
with  which  they  had  been  drawn  together,  and  in  the  conscious- 
ness of  their  collective  strength.  Although  Napoleon  too  often 
permitted  himself  to  use  language  unworthy  of  his  own  character 
respecting  his  great  English  adversary,  his  real  feelings  in  com- 
mencing this  campaign  may  be  judged  from  the  last  words 
which  he  spoke,  as  he  threw  himself  into  his  travelling-carriage 
to  leave  Paris  for  the  army.  "  I  go,"  he  said,  "  to  measure  my- 
self with  Wellington." 

The  enthusiasm  of  the  French  soldiers  at  seeing  their  emperor 
among  them  was  still  more  excited  by  the  "  Order  of  the  day," 
in  which  he  thus  appealed  to  them : 

"Napoleon,  by  the  Grace  of  God,  and  the  Constitution  of  the  Empire, 
Emperor  of  the  French,  &c.,  to  the  Grand  Army. 

"  At  the  Imperial  Headquarters, 

"  Avesnes^  June  14<A,  1816. 

"  Soldiers !  this  day  is  the  anniversary  of  Marengo  and  of  Friedland,  which 
twice  decided  the  destiny  of  Europe.  Then,  as  after  Austerlitz,  as  after 
Wagram,  we  were  too  generous !  We  believed  in  the  protestations  and  in 
the  oaths  of  princes,  whom  we  left  on  their  thrones.  Now,  however,  leagued 
together,  they  aim  at  the  independence  and  the  most  sacred  rights  of  France. 
They  have  commenced  the  most  unjust  of  aggressions.  Let  us,  then,  march 
to  meet  them.     Are  they  and  we  no  longer  the  same  men  ? 

"Soldiers!  at  Jena,  against  these  same  Prussians,  now  so  arrogant,  you 
were  one  to  three,  and  at  Montmirail  one  to  six ! 

"Let  those  among  you  who  have  been  captives  to  the  English  describe 
the  nature  of  their  prison-ships,  and  the  frightful  miseries  they  endured. 

"  The  Saxons,  the  Belgians,  the  Hanoverians,  the  soldiers  of  the  Confedera- 
tion of  the  Rhine,  lament  that  they  are  compelled  to  use  their  arms  in  the 
cause  of  princes,  the  enemies  of  justice  and  of  the  rights  of  all  nations.  They 
know  that  this  coalition  is  insatiable  !  After  having  devoured  twelve  millions 
of  Poles,  twelve  millions  of  Italians,  one  million  of  Saxons,  and  six  millions  of 
Belgians,  it  now  wishes  to  devour  the  states  of  the  second  rank  in  Germany. 

"  Madmen !  one  moment  of  prosperity  has  bewildered  them.  The  oppres- 
sion and  the  humiliation  of  the  French  people  are  beyond  their  power.  If 
they  enter  France,  they  will  there  find  their  grave. 

"  Soldiers !  we  have  forced  marches  to  make,  battles  to  fight,  dangers  to 
encounter ;  but,  with  firmness,  victory  will  be  ours.  The  rights,  the  honor, 
and  the  happiness  of  the  country  will  be  recovered  ! 

"To  every  Frenchman  who  has  a  heart,  the  moment  is  now  arrived  to 
conquer  or  to  die. 

"  Napoleon. 

"  The  Marshal  Ddke  of  Dalmatia, 

"  Major-General." 


BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO. 


351 


The  15tli  of  June  had  scarcely  dawned  before  the  French 
army  was  in  naotion  for  the  decisive  campaign,  and  crossed  the 
frontier  in  three  columns,  which  were  pointed  upon  Charleroi 
and  its  vicinity.  The  French  line  of  advance  upon  Brussels, 
which  city  Napoleon  resolved  to  occupy,  thus  lay  right  through 
the  centre  of  the  cantonments  of  the  Allies. 


VICINITY   OF  WATERLOO. 


Much  criticism  has  been  expended  on  the  supposed  surprise 
of  Wellington's  army  in  its  cantonments  by  Napoleon's  rapid 
advance.  These  comments  would  hardly  have  been  made  if 
sufficient  attention  had  been  paid  to  the  geography  of  the  Wa- 
terloo campaign ;  and  if  it  had  been  remembered  that  the  pro- 
tection of  Brussels  was  justly  considered  by  the  allied  generals 
a  matter  of  primary  importance.  If  Napoleon  could,  either  by 
manoeuvring  or  fighting,  have  succeeded  in  occupying  that  city, 
the  greater  part  of  Belgium  would  unquestionably  have  declared 
in  his  favor ;  and  the  results  of  such  a  success,  gained  by  the 
emperor  at  the  commencement  of  the  campaign,  might  have  de- 
cisively influenced  the  whole  after-current  of  events.     A  glance 


362  BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO. 

at  the  map  will  show  the  numerous  roads  that  lead  from  the 
different  fortresses  on  the  French  northeastern  frontier,  and 
converge  upon  Brussels ;  any  one  of  which  Napoleon  might 
have  chosen  for  the  advance  of  a  strong  force  upon  that  city. 
The  duke's  army  was  judiciously  arranged,  so  as  to  enable  him 
to  concentrate  troops  on  any  one  of  these  roads  sufficiently  in 
advance  of  Brussels  to  check  an  assailing  enemy.  The  army 
was  kept  thus  available  for  movement  in  any  necessary  direc- 
tion, till  certain  intelligence  arrived  on  the  15th  of  June  that 
the  French  had  crossed  the  frontier  in  large  force  near  Thuin, 
that  they  had  driven  back  the  Prussian  advanced  troops  under 
General  Ziethen,  and  were  also  moving  across  the  Sambre  upon 
Charleroi. 

Marshal  Bliicher  now  rapidly  concentrated  his  forces,  calling 
them  in  from  the  left  upon  Ligny,  which  is  to  the  northeast  of 
Charleroi.  Wellington  also  drew  his  troops  together,  calling 
them  in  from  the  right.  But  even  now,  though  it  was  certain 
that  the  French  were  in  large  force  at  Charleroi,  it  was  unsafe 
for  the  English  general  to  place  his  army  directly  between  that 
place  and  Brussels,  until  it  was  certain  that  no  corps  of  the 
enemy  was  marching  upon  Brussels  by  the  western  road  through 
Mons  and  Hal.  The  duke,  therefore,  collected  his  troops  in 
Brussels  and  its  immediate  vicinity,  ready  to  move  due  south- 
ward upon  Quatre  Bras,  and  co-operate  with  Bliicher,  who  was 
taking  his  station  at  Ligny ;  but  also  ready  to  meet  and  defeat 
any  manoeuvre  that  the  enemy  might  make  to  turn  the  right  of 
the  Allies  and  occupy  Brussels  by  a  flanking  movement.  The 
testimony  of  the  Prussian  general.  Baron  Muffling,*  who  was 
attached  to  the  duke's  staff  during  the  campaign,  and  who 
expressly  states  the  reasons  on  which  the  English  general 
acted,  ought  forever  to  have  silenced  the  "  weak  inventions 
of  the  enemy"  about  the  Duke  of  Wellington  having  been 
deceived  and  surprised  by  his  assailant,  which  some  writers 
of  our  own  nation,  as  well  as  foreigners,  have  incautiously  re- 
peated. 

It  was  about  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  15th  that 
a  Prussian  officer  reached  Brussels,  whom  General  Ziethen  had 

♦See  "Passages  from  my  Life  and  Writings,"  by  Baron  Miiffling,  p.  224 
of  the  English  translation,  edited  by  Colonel  Yorke.  See  also  tiie  178th 
number  of  the  "  Quarterly."  It  is  strange  that  Lamartine  should,  after  the 
appearance  of  Muffling's  work,  have  repeated  in  his  "  History  of  the  Res- 
toration "  the  myth  of  Wellington  having  been  surprised  in  the  Brussels 
ballroom,  etc. 


BATTLE  OF    WATERLOO.  353 

sent  to  Muffling  to  inform  him  of  the  advance  of  the  main  French 
army  upon  Charleroi.  Muffling  immediately  communicated  this 
to  the  Duke  of  Wellington ;  and  asked  him  whether  he  would 
now  concentrate  his  army,  and  what  would  be  his  point  of  con- 
centration ;  observing  that  Marshal  Bliicher  in  consequence  of 
this  intelligence  would  certainly  concentrate  the  Prussians  at 
Ligny.  The  duke  replied :  "  If  all  is  as  General  Ziethen  sup- 
poses, I  will  concentrate  on  my  left  wing,  and  so  be  in  readiness 
to  fight  in  conjunction  with  the  Prussian  army.  Should,  how- 
ever, a  portion  of  the  enemy's  force  come  by  Mons,  I  must  con- 
centrate more  towards  my  centre.  This  is  the  reason  why  I 
must  wait  for  positive  news  from  Mons  before  I  fix  the  rendez- 
vous. Since,  however,  it  is  certain  that  the  troops  must  march, 
though  it  is  uncertain  upon  what  precise  spot  they  must  march, 
I  will  order  all  to  be  in  readiness,  and  will  direct  a  brigade  to 
move  at  once  towards  Quatre  Bras."  * 

Later  in  the  same  day  a  message  from  Bliicher  himself  was 
delivered  to  Miiffling,  in  which  the  Prussian  field-marshal  in- 
formed the  baron  that  he  was  concentrating  his  men  at  Sombref 
and  Ligny,  and  charged  Muffling  to  give  him  speedy  intelligence 
respecting  the  concentration  of  Wellington.  Miiffling  immedi- 
ately communicated  this  to  the  duke,  who  expressed  his  satis- 
faction with  Bliicher's  arrangements,  but  added  that  he  could 
not  even  then  resolve  upon  his  own  point  of  concentration  be- 
fore he  obtained  the  desired  intelligence  from  Mons.  About 
midnight  this  information  arriVed.  The  duke  went  to  the 
quarters  of  General  Muffling,  and  told  him  that  he  now  had  re- 
ceived his  reports  from  Mons,  and  was  sure  that  no  French 
troops  were  advancing  by  that  route,  but  that  the  mass  of  the 
enemy's  force  was  decidedly  directed  on  Charleroi.  He  in- 
formed the  Prussian  general  that  he  had  ordered  the  British 
troops  to  move  forward  upon  Quatre  Bras ;  but  with  character- 
istic coolness  and  sagacity  resolved  not  to  give  the  appearance 
of  alarm  by  hurrying  on  with  them  himself.  A  ball  was  to  be 
given  by  the  Duchess  of  Richmond  at  Brussels  that  night,  and 
the  duke  proposed  to  General  Miiffling  that  they  should  go  to 
the  ball  for  a  few  hours,  and  ride  forward  in  the  morning  to 
overtake  the  troops  at  Quatre  Bras. 

To  hundreds  who  were  assembled  at  that  memorable  ball  the 
news  that  the  enemy  was  advancing,  and  that  the  time  for  battle 
had  come,  must  have  been  a  fearfully  exciting  surprise,  and  the 

♦  Muffling,  p.  231. 


354  BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO. 

magnificent  stanzas  of  Byron  *  are  as  true  as  they  are  beautiful ; 
but  the  duke  and  his  principal  officers  knew  well  the  stern  ter- 

•  "  There  was  a  sound  of  revelry  by  night, 
And  Belgium's  capital  had  gathered  then 
Her  Beauty  and  her  Chivalry,  and  bright 
The  lamps  shone  o'er  fair  women  and  brave  men; 
A  thousand  hearts  beat  happily;  and  when 
Music  arose  with  its  voluptuous  swell. 
Soft  eyes  looked  love  to  eyes  which  spake  again, 
And  all  went  merry  as  a  marriage-bell. 
But,  hush !  hark  ! — a  deep  sound  strikes  like  a  rising  knell. 

"  Did  ye  not  hear  it  ? — No ;  'twas  but  the  wind. 

Or  the  car  rattling  o'er  the  stony  street. 

On  with  the  dance  !  let  joy  be  unconfined  ; 

No  sleep  till  morn,  when  Youth  and  Pleasure  meet 

To  chase  the  glowing  Hours  with  flying  feet. 

But,  hark ! — that  heavy  sound  breaks  in  once  more, 

As  if  the  clouds  its  echo  would  repeat ; 

And  nearer,  clearer,  deadlier  than  before ! 
Arm !  arm !  it  is — it  is — the  cannon's  opening  roar ! 

"Within  a  windowed  niche  of  that  high  hall 
Sat  Brunswick's  fated  chieftain ;  he  did  hear 
That  sound  the  first  amidst  the  festival, 
And  caught  its  tone  with  Death's  prophetic  ear ; 
And  when  they  smiled  because  he  deemed  it  near, 
His  heart  more  truly  knew  that  peal  too  well 
Which  stretch'd  his  father  on  a  bloody  bier. 
And  roused  the  vengeance  blood  alone  could  quell: 
He  rushed  into  the  field,  and,  foremost  fighting,  fell. 

"  Ah !  then  and  there  was  hurrying  to  and  fro, 
And  gathering  tears,  and  tremblings  of  distress, 
And  cheeks  all  pale,  which  but  an  hour  ago 
Blushed  at  the  praise  of  their  own  loveliness ; 
And  there  were  sudden  partings,  such  as  press 
The  life  from  out  young  hearts,  and  choking  sigha 
Which  ne'er  might  be  repeated ;  who  could  guess 
If  ever  more  should  meet  those  mutual  eyes, 
Since  upon  night  so  sweet  such  awful  morn  could  rise? 

"  And  there  was  mounting  in  hot  haste :  the  steed, 

The  mustering  squadron,  and  the  clattering  car, 

Went  pouring  forward  with  impetuous  speed. 

And  swiftly  forming  in  the  ranks  of  war ; 

And  the  deep  thunder  peal  on  peal  afar ; 

And  near,  the  beat  of  the  alarming  drum 

Roused  up  the  soldier  ere  the  morning  star ; 

While  thronged  the  citizens  with  terror  dumb. 
Or  whispering,  with  white  lips, '  The  foe !    They  come !  they  come  1' 


BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO.  355 

mination  to  that  festive  scene  which  was  approaching.  One 
by  one,  and  in  such  a  way  as  to  attract  as  little  obervation  as 
possible,  the  leaders  of  the  various  corps  left  the  ballroom,  and 
took  their  stations  at  the  head  of  their  men,  who  were  pressing 
forward  through  the  last  hours  of  the  short  summer  night  to 
the  arena  of  anticipated  slaughter. 

Napoleon's  operations  on  the  15th  had  been  conducted  with 
signal  skill  and  vigor;  and  their  results  had  been  very  advan- 
tageous for  his  plan  of  the  campaign.  With  his  army  formed 
in  three  vast  columns,*  he  had  struck  at  the  centre  of  the  line 
of  cantonments  of  his  allied  foes  ;  and  he  had  so  far  made  good 
his  blow  that  he  had  effected  the  passage  of  the  Sambre,  he 
had  beaten  with  his  left  wing  the  Prussian  corps  of  General 
Ziethen  at  Thuin,  and  with  his  centre  he  had  in  person  ad- 
vanced right  through  Charleroi  upon  Fleurus,  inflicting  consid- 
erable loss  upon  the  Prussians  that  fell  back  before  him.  His 
right  column  had  with  little  opposition  moved  forward  as  far  as 
the  bridge  of  Chatelet. 

Napoleon  had  thus  a  powerful  force  immediately  in  front  of 
the  point  which  Bliicher  had  fixed  for  the  concentration  of  the 
Prussian  army,  and  that  concentration  was  still  incomplete. 
The  French  emperor  designed  to  attack  the  Prussians  on  the 
morrow  in  person,  with  the  troops  of  his  centre  and  right  col- 
umns, and  to  employ  his  left  wing  in  beating  back  such  English 
troops  as  might  advance  to  the  help  of  their  allies,  and  also  in 

"And  Ardennes  waves  above  them  her  green  leaves, 

Dewy  with  nature's  tear-drops,  as  they  pass ; 

Grieving,  if  aught  inanimate  e'er  grieves, 

Over  the  unreturning  brave — alas ! 

Ere  evening  to  be  trodden  like  the  grass 

Which  now  beneath  them,  but  above  shall  grow 

In  its  next  verdure,  when  this  fiery  mass 

Of  living  valor,  rolling  on  the  foe 
And  burning  with  high  hope,  shall  moulder  cold  and  low. 

"Last  noon  beheld  them  full  of  lusty  life, 
Last  eve  in  Beauty's  circle  proudly  gay: 
The  midnight  brought  the  signal-sound  of  strife ; 
The  morn,  the  marshalling  in  arms;  the  day, 
Battle's  magnificently  stern  array! 
The  thunder-clouds  close  o'er  it,  which,  when  rent, 
The  earth  is  covered  thick  with  other  clay, 
Which  her  own  clay  shall  cover,  heaped  and  pent, 
Rider  and  horse — friend,  foe — in  one  red  burial  blent." 

♦  "  Victoires  et  Conqugtes  des  Fran9ais,"  vol.  xxv.,  p.  177. 


856  BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO, 

aiding  his  own  attack  upon  Blucher.  He  gave  the  command  of 
this  left  wing  to  Marshal  Ney.  Napoleon  seems  not  to  have  orig- 
inally intended  to  employ  this  celebrated  general  in  the  cam- 
paign. It  was  only  on  the  night  of  the  11th  of  June  that 
Marshal  Ney  received  at  Paris  an  order  to  join  the  army.  Hur- 
rying forward  to  the  Belgian  frontier,  he  met  the  emperor  near 
Charleroi.  Napoleon  immediately  directed  him  to  take  the 
command  of  the  left  wing,  and  to  press  forward  with  it  upon 
Quatre  Bras  by  the  line  of  the  road  which  leads  from  Charleroi 
to  Brussels,  through  Gosselies,  Frasne,  Quatre  Bras,  Genappe, 
and  Waterloo.  Ney  immediately  proceeded  to  the  post  assigned 
him ;  and  before  ten  on  the  night  of  the  1 5th  he  had  occupied 
Gosselies  and  Frasne,  driving  out  without  much  difficulty  some 
weak  Belgian  detachments  which  had  been  stationed  in  those 
villages.  The  lateness  of  the  hour,  and  the  exhausted  state  of 
the  French  troops,  who  had  been  marching  and  fighting  since 
ten  in  the  morning,  made  him  pause  from  advancing  farther  to 
attack  the  much  more  important  position  of  Quatre  Bras.  In 
truth,  the  advantages  which  the  French  gained  by  their  almost 
superhuman  energy  and  activity  throughout  the  long  dlay  of  the 
15th  of  June  were  necessarily  bought  at  the  price  of  more  de- 
lay and  inertness  during  the  following  night  and  morrow  than 
would  have  been  observable  if  they  had  not  been  thus  over- 
tasked. Ney  has  been  blamed  for  want  of  promptness  in  his 
attack  upon  Quatre  Bras,  and  Napoleon  has  been  criticised  for 
not  having  fought  at  Ligny  before  the  afternoon  of  the  16th; 
but  their  censors  should  remember  that  soldiers  are  but  men, 
and  that  there  must  be  necessarily  some  interval  of  time  before 
troops  that  have  been  worn  and  weakened  by  twenty  hours  of 
incessant  fatigue  and  strife  can  be  fed,  rested,  reorganized,  and 
brought  again  into  action  with  any  hope  of  success. 

Having  on  the  night  of  the  15th  placed  the  most  advanced  of 
the  French  under  his  command  in  position  in  front  of  Frasne, 
Ney  rode  back  to  Charleroi,  where  Napoleon  also  arrived  about 
midnight,  having  returned  from  directing  the  operations  of  the 
centre  and  right  column  of  the  French.  The  emperor  and  the 
marshal  supped  together,  and  remained  in  earnest  conversation 
till  two  in  the  morning.  An  hour  or  two  afterwards  Ney  rode 
back  to  Frasne,  where  he  endeavored  to  collect  tidings  of  the 
numbers  and  movements  of  the  enemy  in  front  of  him  ;  and  also 
busied  himself  in  the  necessary  duty  of  learning  the  amount 
and  composition  of  the  troops  which  he  himself  was  command- 
ing.    He  had  been  so  suddenly  appointed  to  his  hiorh  station 


BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO.  357 

that  he  did  not  know  the  strength  of  the  several  regiments  un- 
der him,  or  even  the  names  of  their  commanding  officers.  He 
now  caused  his  aides-de-camp  to  prepare  the  requisite  returns, 
and  drew  together  the  troops,  whom  he  was  thus  learning  before 
he  used  them. 

Wellington  remained  at  the  Duchess  of  Richmond's  ball  at 
Brussels  till  about  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  16th, 
"  showing  himself  very  cheerful,"  as  Baron  Miiffling,  who  ac- 
companied him,  observes.*  At  five  o'clock  the  duke  and  the 
baron  were  on  horseback,  and  reached  the  position  at  Quatre 
Bras  about  eleven.  As  the  French,  who  were  in  front  of  Frasne, 
were  perfectly  quiet,  and  the  duke  was  informed  that  a  very 
large  force  under  Napoleon  in  person  was  menacing  Bliicher, 
it  was  thought  possible  that  only  a  slight  detachment  of  the 
French  was  posted  at  Frasne  in  order  to  mask  the  English  army. 
In  that  event  Wellington,  as  he  told  Baron  Muffling,  would  be 
able  to  employ  his  whole  strength  in  supporting  the  Prussians ; 
and  he  proposed  to  ride  across  from  Quatre  Bras  to  Bliicher's 
position,  in  order  to  concert  with  him  personally  the  measures 
which  should  be  taken  in  order  to  bring  on  a  decisive  battle 
with  the  French.  Wellington  and  Miiffling  rode  accordingly 
towards  Ligny,  and  found  Marshal  Blucher  and  his  staff  at  the 
windmill  of  Bry,  near  that  village.  The  Prussian  army,  80,000 
strong,  was  drawn  up  chiefly  along  a  chain  of  heights,  with 
the  villages  of  Sombref,  St.  Amand,  and  Ligny  in  their  front. 
These  villages  were  strongly  occupied  by  Prussian  detachments, 
and  formed  the  keys  of  Bliicher's  position.  The  heads  of  the 
columns  which  Napoleon  was  forming  for  the  attack  were  visi- 
ble in  the  distance.  The  duke  asked  Bliicher  and  General 
Gneisenau  (who  was  Bliicher's  adviser  in  matters  of  strategy) 
what  they  wished  him  to  do.  Miiffling  had  already  explained 
to  them  in  a  few  words  the  duke's  earnest  desire  to  support  the 
field-marshal,  and  that  he  would  do  all  that  they  wished,  pro- 
vided they  did  not  ask  him  to  divide  his  army,  which  was  con- 
trary to  his  principles.  The  duke  wished  to  advance  with  his 
army  (as  soon  as  it  was  concentrated)  'upon  Frasne  and  Gosse- 
lies,  and  thence  to  move  upon  Napoleon's  flank  and  rear.  The 
Prussian  leaders  preferred  that  he  should  march  his  men  from 
Quatre  Bras  by  the  Namur  road,  so  as  to  form  a  reserve  in  rear 
of  Bliicher's  army.  The  duke  replied,  "  Well,  I  will  come  if 
I  am  not  attacked  myself,"  and  galloped  back  with  Miiffling 


868  BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO. 

to  Quatre  Bras,  where  the  French  attack  was  now  actually  rag- 
ing. 

Marshal  Ney  began  the  battle  about  two  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon. He  had  at  this  time  in  hand  about  16,000  infantry, 
nearly  2000  cavalry,  and  38  guns.  The  force  which  Napoleon 
nominally  placed  at  his  command  exceeded  40,000  men.  But 
more  than  one  half  of  these  consisted  of  the  first  French  corps 
d'armee,  under  Count  d'Erlon;  and  Ney  was  deprived  of  the 
use  of  this  corps  at  the  time  that  he  most  required  it,  in  con- 
sequence of  its  receiving  orders  to  march  to  the  aid  of  the  em- 
peror at  Ligny.  A  magnificent  body  of  heavy  cavalry  under 
Kellermann,  nearly  5000  strong,  and  several  more  battalions  of 
artillery  were  added  to  Ney's  army  during  the  battle  of  Quatre 
Bras;  but  his  effective  infantry  force  never  exceeded  16,000. 

When  the  battle  began,  the  greater  part  of  the  duke's  army 
was  yet  on  its  march  towards  Quatre  Bras  from  Brussels,  and 
the  other  parts  of  its  cantonments.  The  force  of  the  Allies, 
actually  in  position  there,  consisted  only  of  a  Dutch  and  Belgian 
division  of  infantry,  not  quite  VOOO  strong,  with  one  battalion 
of  foot,  and  one  of  horse-artillery.  The  Prince  of  Orange  com- 
manded them.  A  wood,  called  the  Bois  de  Bossu,  stretched 
along  the  right  (or  western)  flank  of  the  position  of  Quatre 
Bras ;  a  farm-house  and  building,  called  Gemiancourt,  stood  on 
some  elevated  ground  in  its  front;  and  to  the  left  (or  east) 
were  the  enclosures  of  the  village  of  Pierremont.  The  Prince 
of  Orange  endeavored  to  secure  these  posts ;  but  Ney  carried 
Gemiancourt  in  the  centre,  and  Pierremont  on  the  east,  and 
gained  occupation  of  the  southern  part  of  the  wood  of  Bossu. 
He  ranged  the  chief  part  of  his  artillery  on  the  high  ground  of 
Gemiancourt,  whence  it  played  throughout  the  action  with  most 
destructive  effect  upon  the  Allies.  He  was  pressing  forward 
to  further  advantages,  when  the  fifth  infantry  division,  under  Sir 
Thomas  Picton,  and  the  Duke  of  Brunswick's  corps,  appeared 
upon  the  scene.  Wellington  (who  had  returned  to  Quatre  Bras 
from  his  interview  with  Blucher  shortly  before  the  arrival  of 
these  forces)  restored  the  fight  with  them  ;  and  as  fresh  troops 
of  the  Allies  arrived,  they  were  brought  forward  to  stem  the 
fierce  attacks  which  Ney's  columns  and  squadrons  continued  to 
make  with  unabated  gallantry  and  zeal.  The  only  cavalry  of 
the  Anglo-allied  army  that  reached  Quatre  Bras  during  the  ac- 
tion consisted  of  Dutch  and  Belgians,  and  a  small  force  of 
Brunswickers  under  their  duke,  who  was  killed  on  the  field. 
These  proved  wholly  unable  to  encounter  Kcllermann's  cuirassiers 


BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO.  359 

and  Pire's  lancers.  The  Dutch  and  Belgian  infantry  also  gave 
way  early  in  the  engagement ;  so  that  the  whole  brunt  of  the 
battle  fell  on  the  British  and  German  infantry.  They  sustained 
it  nobly.  Though  repeatedly  charged  by  the  French  cavalry, 
though  exposed  to  the  murderous  fire  of  the  French  batteries, 
which  from  the  heights  of  Gemiancourt  sent  shot  and  shell  into 
the  devoted  squares  whenever  the  French  horsemen  withdrew, 
they  not  only  repelled  their  assailants,  but  Kempt's  and  Pack^s 
brigades,  led  on  by  Picton,  actually  advanced  against  and  through 
their  charging  foes,  and  with  stern  determination  made  good  to 
the  end  of  the  day  the  ground  which  they  had  thus  boldly  won. 
Some,  however,  of  the  British  regiments  were  during  the  con- 
fusion assailed  by  the  French  cavalry  before  they  could  form 
squares,  and  suffered  severely.  One  regiment,  the  92d,  was  al- 
most wholly  destroyed  by  the  cuirassiers.  A  French  private 
soldier,  named  Lami,  of  the  8th  Regiment  of  cuirassiers,  captured 
one  of  the  English  colors,  and  presented  it  to  Ney.  It  was  a 
solitary  trophy.  The  arrival  of  the  English  Guards  about  half- 
past  six  o'clock  enabled  the  duke  to  recover  the  wood  of  Bossu, 
which  the  French  had  almost  entirely  won,  and  the  possession 
of  which  by  them  would  have  enabled  Ney  to  operate  destruc- 
tively upon  the  allied  flank  and  rear.  Not  only  was  the  wood 
of  Bossu  recovered  on  the  British  right,  but  the  enclosures  of 
Pierremont  were  also  carried  on  the  left.  When  night  set  in 
the  French  had  been  driven  back  on  all  points  towards  Frasne ; 
but  they  still  held  the  farm  of  Gemiancourt  in  front  of  the 
duke's  centre.  Wellington  and  Miiffling  were  unacquainted 
with  the  result  of  the  collateral  battle  between  Bliicher  and  Na- 
poleon, the  cannonading  of  which  had  been  distinctly  audible  at 
Quatre  Bras  throughout  the  afternoon  and  evening.  The  duke 
observed  to  Muffling  that  of  course  the  two  allied  armies  would 
assume  the  offensive  against  the  enemy  on  the  morrow ;  and, 
consequently,  it  would  be  better  to  capture  the  farm  at  once, 
instead  of  waiting  till  next  morning.  Miiffling  agreed  in  the 
duke's  views,  and  Gemiancourt  was  forthwith  attacked  by  the 
English  and  captured  with  little  loss  to  the  assailants.* 

Meanwhile  the  French  and  the  Prussians  had  been  fighting  in 
and  round  the  villages  of  Ligny,  Sombref,  and  St.  Amand,  from 
three  in  the  afternoon  to  nine  in  the  evening,  with  a  savage  in- 
veteracy almost  unparalleled  in  modern  warfare.  Bliicher  had 
in  the  field,  when  he  began  the  battle,  83,417  men  and  224 

*  Muffling,  p.  242. 


360  BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO. 

guns.  Bulow's  corps,  which  was  25,000  strong,  had  not  joined 
him ;  but  the  field-marshal  hoped  to  be  reinforced  by  it  or  by 
the  English  army  before  the  end  of  the  action.  But  Bulow, 
through  some  error  in  the  transmission  of  orders,  was  far  in  the 
rear ;  and  the  Duke  of  Wellington  was  engaged,  as  we  have  seen, 
with  Marshal  Ney.  Blucher  received  early  warning  from  Baron 
Muffling  that  the  duke  could  not  come  to  his  assistance ;  but,  as 
Muffling  observes,  Wellington  rendered  the  Prussians  the  great 
service  of  occupying  more  than  40,000  of  the  enemy,  who  other- 
wise would  have  crushed  Blucher's  right  flank.  For  not  only 
did  the  conflict  at  Quatre  Bras  detain  the  French  troops  which 
actually  took  part  in  it,  but  d'Erlon  received  orders  from  Ney  to 
join  him,  which  hindered  d'Erlon  from  giving  effectual  aid  to 
Napoleon.  Indeed,  the  whole  of  d'Erlon's  corps,  in  consequence 
of  conflicting  directions  from  Ney  and  the  emperor,  marched 
and  countermarched,  during  the  16th,  between  Quatre  Bras  and 
Ligny  without  firing  a  shot  in  either  battle. 

Blucher  had,  in  fact,  a  superiority  of  more  than  12,000  in 
number  over  the  French  army  that  attacked  him  at  Ligny.  The 
numerical  difference  was  even  greater  at  the  beginning  of  the 
battle,  as  Lobau's  corps  did  not  come  up  from  Charleroi  till 
eight  o'clock.  After  five  hours  and  a  half  of  desperate  and 
long-doubtful  struggle.  Napoleon  succeeded  in  breaking  the 
centre  of  the  Prussian  line  at  Ligny,  and  in  forcing  his  obsti- 
nate antagonists  off  the  field  of  battle.  The  issue  was  attribu- 
table to  his  skill,  and  not  to  any  want  of  spirit  or  resolution  on 
the  part  of  the  Prussian  troops ;  nor  did  they,  though  defeated, 
abate  one  jot  in  discipline,  heart,  or  hope.  As  Bliicher  observed, 
it  was  a  battle  in  which  his  army  lost  the  day  but  not  its  honor. 
The  Prussians  retreated  during  the  night  of  the  16th,  and  the 
early  part  of  the  iVth,  with  perfect  regularity  and  steadiness. 
The  retreat  was  directed  not  towards  Maestricht,  where  their 
principal  depots  were  established,  but  towards  Wavre,  so  as  to 
be  able  to  maintain  their  communication  with  Wellington's  army, 
and  still  follow  out  the  original  plan  of  the  campaign.  The 
heroism  with  which  the  Prussians  endured  and  repaired  their 
defeat  at  Ligny  is  more  glorious  than  many  victories. 

The  messenger  who  was  sent  to  inform  Wellington  of  the 
retreat  of  the  Prussian  army  was  shot  on  the  way ;  and  it  was 
not  until  the  morning  of  the  iVth  that  the  Allies,  at  Quatre 
Bras,  knew  the  result  of  the  battle  of  Ligny.  The  duke  was 
ready  at  daybreak  to  take  the  offensive  against  the  enemy  with 
vigor,  his  whole  army  being  by  that  time  fully  assembled.     But 


BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO,  361 

on  learning  that  Bliicher  had  been  defeated,  a  different  course 
of  action  was  clearly  necessary.  It  was  obvious  that  Napoleon's 
main  army  would  now  be  directed  against  Wellington,  and  a  re- 
treat was  inevitable.  On  ascertaining  that  the  Prussian  army 
had  retired  upon  Wavre,  that  there  was  no  hot  pursuit  of  them 
by  the  French,  and  that  Bulow's  corps  had  taken  no  part  in  the 
action  at  Ligny,  the  duke  resolved  to  march  his  army  back 
towards  Brussels,  still  intending  to  cover  that  city,  and  to  halt 
at  a  point  in  a  line  with  Wavre,  and  there  restore  his  communi- 
cation with  Bliicher.  An  officer  from  Blticher's  army  reached 
the  duke  about  nine  o'clock,  from  whom  he  learned  the  effective 
strength  that  Bliicher  still  possessed,  and  how  little  discouraged 
his  ally  was  by  the  yesterday's  battle.  Wellington  sent  word  to 
the  Prussian  commander  that  he  would  halt  in  the  position  of 
Mont  St.  Jean,  and  accept  a  general  battle  with  the  French,  if 
Bliicher  would  pledge  himself  to  come  to  his  assistance  with  a 
single  corps  of  25,000  men.  This  was  readily  promised;  and 
after  allowing  his  men  ample  time  for  rest  and  refreshment, 
Wellington  retired  over  about  half  the  space  between  Quatre 
Bras  and  Brussels.  He  was  pursued,  but  little  molested,  by  the 
main  French  army,  which  about  noon  of  the  17th  moved  later- 
ally from  Ligny,  and  joined  Ney's  forces,  which  had  advanced 
through  Quatre  Bras  when  the  British  abandoned  that  posi- 
tion. The  Earl  of  Uxbridge,  with  the  British  cavalry,  covered 
the  retreat  of  the  duke's  army  with  great  skill  and  gallantry ; 
and  a  heavy  thunder-storm,  with  torrents  of  rain,  impeded  the 
operations  of  the  French  pursuing  squadrons.  The  duke  still 
expected  that  the  French  would  endeavor  to  turn  his  right,  and 
march  upon  Brussels  by  the  high-road  that  leads  through  Mons 
and  Hal.  In  order  to  counteract  this  anticipated  manoeuvre,  iie 
stationed  a  force  of  18,000  men,  under  Prince  Frederick  of  the 
Netherlands,  at  Hal,  with  orders  to  maintain  himself  there,  if 
attacked,  as  long  as  possible.  The  duke  halted  with  the  rest 
of  his  army  at  the  position  near  Mont  St.  Jean  which,  from  a 
village  in  its  neighborhood,  has  received  the  ever-memorable 
name  of  the  field  of  Waterloo. 

Wellington  was  now  about  twelve  miles  distant,  on  a  line  run- 
ning from  west  to  east,  from  Wavre,  where  the  Prussian  army 
had  now  been  completely  reorganized  and  collected,  and  where 
it  had  been  strengthened  by  the  junction  of  Bulow's  troops, 
which  had  taken  no  part  in  the  battle  of  Ligny.  Bliicher  sent 
word  from  Wavre  to  the  duke  that  he  was  coming  to  help  the 
English  at  Mont  St,  Jean,  in  the  morning,  not  with  one  corps, 


362  BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO. 

but  with  his  whole  army.  The  fiery  old  man  only  stipulated 
that  the  combined  armies,  if  not  attacked  by  Napoleon  on  the 
18th,  should  themselves  attack  him  on  the  19th.  So  far  were 
Blucher  and  his  army  from  being  in  the  state  of  annihilation 
described  in  the  boastful  bulletin  by  which  Napoleon  informed 
the  Parisians  of  his  victory  at  Ligny.  Indeed,  the  French  em- 
peror seems  himself  to  have  been  misinformed  as  to  the  extent 
of  loss  which  he  had  inflicted  on  the  Prussians.  Had  he  known 
in  what  good  order  and  with  what  undiminished  spirit  they 
were  retiring,  he  would  scarcely  have  delayed  sending  a  large 
force  to  press  theni  in  their  retreat  until  noon  on  the  l7th. 
Such,  however,  was  the  case.  It  was  about  that  time  that  he 
confided  to  Marshal  Grouchy  the  duty  of  pursuing  the  defeated 
Prussians,  and  preventing  them  from  joining  Wellington.  He 
placed  for  this  purpose  32,000  men  and  96  guns  under  his  or- 
ders. Violent  complaints  and  recriminations  passed  afterwards 
between  the  emperor  and  the  marshal  respecting  the  manner  in 
which  Grouchy  attempted  to  perform  this  duty,  and  the  reasons 
why  he  failed  on  the  18th  to  arrest  the  lateral  movement  of  the 
Prussians  from  Wavre  to  Waterloo.  It  is  sufiicient  to  remark 
here,  that  the  force  which  Napoleon  gave  to  Grouchy  (though 
the  utmost  that  the  emperor's  limited  means  would  allow)  was 
insufficient  to  make  head  against  the  entire  Prussian  army, 
especially  after  Bulow's  junction  with  Blucher.  We  shall  pres- 
ently have  occasion  to  consider  what  opportunities  were  given 
to  Grouchy  during  the  18th,  and  what  he  might  have  effected  if 
he  had  been  a  man  of  original  military  genius. 

But  the  failure  of  Grouchy  was  in  truth  mainly  owing  to  the 
indomitable  heroism  of  Blucher  himself ;  who,  though  he  had 
received  severe  personal  injuries  in  the  battle  of  Ligny,  was  as 
energetic  and  ready  as  ever  in  bringing  his  men  into  action  again, 
and  who  had  the  resolution  to  expose  a  part  of  his  army,  under 
Thielman,  to  be  overwhelmed  by  Grouchy  at  Wavre  on  the  18th, 
while  he  urged  the  march  of  the  mass  of  his  troops  upon  Water- 
loo. "  It  is  not  at  Wavre,  but  at  Waterloo,"  said  the  old  field- 
marshal,  "  that  the  campaign  is  to  be  decided  ;"  and  he  risked  a 
detachment,  and  won  the  campaign  accordingly.  Wellington 
and  Bliicher  trusted  each  other  as  cordially,  and  co-operated  as 
zealously,  as  formerly  had  been  the  case  with  Marlborough  and 
Eugene.  It  was  in  full  reliance  on  Blucher's  promise  to  join 
him  that  the  duke  stood  his  ground  and  fought  at  Waterloo ; 
and  those  who  have  ventured  to  impugn  the  duke's  capacity  as 
a  general  ought  to  have  had  common-sense  enough  to  perceive 


BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO.  363 

that  to  charge  the  duke  with  having  won  the  battle  of  Waterloo 
by  the  help  of  the  Prussians  is  really  to  say  that  he  won  it  by 
the  very  means  on  which  he  relied,  and  without  the  expectation 
of  which  the  battle  would  not  have  been  fought. 

Napoleon  himself  has  found  fault  with  Wellington  for  not 
having  retreated  farther,  so  as  to  complete  a  junction  of  his 
army  with  Bliicher's  before  he  risked  a  general  engagement.* 
But,  as  we  have  seen,  the  duke  justly  considered  it  important 
to  protect  Brussels.  He  had  reason  to  expect  that  his  army 
could  singly  resist  the  French  at  Waterloo  until  the  Prussians 
came  up ;  and  that,  on  the  Prussians  joining,  there  would  be  a 
sufficient  force  united  under  himself  and  Blticher  for  completely 
overwhelming  the  enemy.  And  while  Napoleon  thus  censures 
his  great  adversary,  he  involuntarily  bears  the  highest  possible 
testimony  to  the  military  character  of  the  English,  and  proves 
decisively  of  what  paramount  importance  was  the  battle  to  which 
he  challenged  his  fearless  opponent.  Napoleon  asks,  "7/"  the 
English  army  had  been  beaten  at  Waterloo,  what  would  have  been 
*the  use  of  those  nmp/ierous  bodies  of  troops,  of  Prussians,  Austrians, 
Germans,  and  Spaniards,  which  were  advancing  by  forced  marches 
to  the  Rhine,  the  Alps,  and  the  Pyrenees  .^"  f 

The  strength  of  the  army  under  the  Duke  of  Wellington  at 
Waterloo  was  49,608  infantry,  12,402  cavalry,  and  5645  artil- 
lerymen with  156  guns.  J  But  of  this  total  of  67,655  men, 
scarcely  24,000  were  British,  a  circumstance  of  very  serious  im- 
portance, if  Napoleon's  own  estimate  of  the  relative  value  of 
troops  of  different  nations  is  to  be  taken.  In  the  emperor's 
own  words,  speaking  of  this  campaign,  "  A  French  soldier  would 
not  be  equal  to  more  than  one  English  soldier,  but  he  would  not 
be  afraid  to  meet  two  Dutchmen,  Prussians,  or  soldiers  of  the 
Confederation."  §  There  were  about  6000  men  of  the  old  Ger- 
man Legion  with  the  duke ;  these  were  veteran  troops,  and  of 
excellent  quality.  Of  the  rest  of  the  army  the  Hanoverians  and 
Brunswickers  proved  themselves  deserving  of  confidence  and 
praise.  But  the  Nassauers,  Dutch,  and  Belgians  were  almost 
worthless;  and  not  a  few  of  them  were  justly  suspected  of  a 
strong  wish  to  fight,  if  they  fought  at  all,  under  the  French 
eagles  rather  than  against  them. 

Napoleon's  army  at  Waterloo  consisted  of  48,950  infantry, 
15,765  cavalry,  7232  artillerymen,  being  a  total  of  71,947  men, 

*  See  "  Montholon's  Memoirs,"  vol.  iv.,  p.  44.  f  Ibid. 

\  Siborne,  vol.  i.,  p.  376.  §  "Montholon's  Memoirs,"  vol.  iv.,  p.  41. 


364  BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO. 

and  246  guns.*  They  were  the  flower  of  the  national  forces  of 
France ;  and  of  all  the  numerous  gallant  armies  which  that  mar- 
tial land  has  poured  forth,  never  was  there  one  braver,  or  better 
disciplined,  or  better  led  than  the  host  that  took  up  its  position 
at  Waterloo  on  the  morning  of  the  18th  of  June,  1815. 

Perhaps  those  who  have  not  seen  the  field  of  battle  at  Water- 
loo, or  the  admirable  model  of  the  ground  and  of  the  conflict- 
ing armies  which  was  executed  by  Captain  Siborne,  may  gain  a 
generally  accurate  idea  of  the  localities  by  picturing  to  them- 
selves a  valley  between  two  and  three  miles  long,  of  various 
breadths  at  different  points,  but  generally  not  exceeding  half  a 
mile.  On  each  side  of  the  valley  there  is  a  winding  chain  of  low 
hills  running  somewhat  parallel  with  each  other.  The  declivity 
from  each  of  these  ranges  of  hills  to  the  intervening  valley  is 
gentle  but  not  uniform,  the  undulations  of  the  ground  being 
frequent  and  considerable.  The  English  army  was  posted  on  the 
northern  and  the  French  army  occupied  the  southern  ridge. 
The  artillery  of  each  side  thundered  at  the  other  from  their  re- 
spective heights  throughout  the  day,  and  the  ^barges  of  horse» 
and  foot  were  made  across  the  valley  that  has  been  described. 
The  village  of  Mont  St.  Jean  is  situate  a  little  behind  the  centre 
of  the  northern  chain  of  hills,  and  the  village  of  La  Belle  Alliance 
is  close  behind  the  centre  of  the  southern  ridge.  The  high- 
road from  Charleroi  to  Brussels  (a  broad  paved  causeway)  runs 
through  both  these  villages,  and  bisects  therefore  both  the  Eng- 
lish and  the  French  position.  The  line  of  this  road  was  the 
line  of  Napoleon's  intended  advance  on  Brussels. 

There  are  some  other  local  particulars  connected  with  the 
situation  of  each  army  which  it  is  necessary  to  bear  in  mind.j- 
The  strength  of  the  British  position  did  not  consist  merely  in 
the  occupation  of  a  ridge  of  high  ground.  A  village  and  ravine, 
called  Merk  Braine,  on  the  Duke  of  Wellington's  extreme  right, 
secured  his  flank  from  being  turned  on  that  side  ;  and  on  his 
extreme  left  two  little  hamlets,  called  La  Haye  and  Papelotte, 
gave  a  similar,  though  a  slighter,  protection.  Behind  the  whole 
British  position  is  the  extensive  forest  of  Soignies.  As  no  at- 
tempt was  made  by  the  French  to  turn  either  of  the  English 
flanks,  and  the  battle  was  a  day  of  straightforward  fighting,  it  is 
chiefly  important  to  ascertain  what  posts  there  were  in  front  of 
the  British  line  of  hills  of  which  advantage  could  be  taken 
either  to  repel  or  facilitate  an  attack ;  and  it  will  be  seen  that 

\  *  See  Siborne,  ut  mpra.  f  See  plan  at  p.  369. 


BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO.  365 

there  were  two,  and  that  each  was  of  very  great  importance  in 
the  action.  In  front  of  the  British  right — that  is  to  say,  on  the 
northern  slope  of  the  valley  towards  its  western  end — there  stood 
an  old-fashioned  Flemish  farm-house  called  Goumont,  or  Hoii- 
goumont,  with  out-buildings  and  a  garden,  and  with  a  copse  of 
beech-trees  of  about  two  acres  in  extent  round  it.  This  was 
strongly  garrisoned  by  the  allied  troops ;  and,  while  it  was  in 
their  possession,  it  was  difficult  for  the  enemy  to  press  on  and 
force  the  British  right  wing.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  enemy 
could  take  it,  it  would  be  difficult  for  that  wing  to  keep  its  ground 
on  the  heights,  with  a  strong  post  held  adversely  in  its  immediate 
front,  being  one  that  would  give  much  shelter  to  the  enemy's 
marksmen,  and  great  facilities  for  the  sudden  concentration  of 
attacking  columns.  Almost  immediately  in  front  of  the  British 
centre,  and  not  so  far  down  the  slope  as  Hougoumont,  there  was 
another  farm-house,  of  a  smaller  size,  called  La  Haye  Sainte,* 
which  was  also  held  by  the  British  troops,  and  the  occupation  of 
which  was  found  to  be  of  very  serious  consequence. 

With  respect  to  the  French  position,  the  principal  feature  to 
be  noticed  is  the  village  of  Planchenoit,  which  lay  a  little  in 
the  rear  of  their  right  {i.  e.,  on  the  eastern  side),  and  which 
proved  to  be  of  great  importance  in  aiding  them  to  check  the 
advance  of  the  Prussians. 

Napoleon,  in  his  memoirs,  and  other  French  writers,  have 
vehemently  blamed  the  duke  for  having  given  battle  in  such  a 
position  as  that  of  Waterloo.  They  particularly  object  that  the 
duke  fought  without  having  the  means  of  a  retreat,  if  the  at- 
tacks of  his  enemy  had  proved  successful ;  and  that  the  Eng- 
lish army,  if  once  broken,  must  have  lost  all  its  guns  and  mate- 
riel in  its  flight  through  the  forest  of  Soignies,  that  lay  in  its 
rear.  In  answer  to  these  censures,  instead  of  merely  referring 
to  the  event  of  the  battle  as  proof  of  the  correctness  of  the 
duke's  judgment,  it  is  to  be  observed  that  many  military  crit- 
ics of  high  authority  have  considered  the  position  of  Waterloo 
to  have  been  admirably  adapted  for  the  duke's  purpose  of  pro- 
tecting Brussels  by  a  battle  ;  and  that  certainly  the  duke's 
opinion  in  favor  of  it  was  not  lightly  or  hastily  formed.  It  is 
a  remarkable  fact  (mentioned  in  the  speech  of  Lord  Bathurst 
when  moving  the  vote  of  thanks  to  the  duke  in  the  House  of 
Lords),!  that  when  the  Duke  of  Wellington  was  passing  through 

*  Not  to  be  confounded  with  the  hamlet  of  La  Haye  at  the  extreme  left  of 
the  British  line. 

f  "  Parliamentary  Debates,"  vol.  xxxi.,  p.  875. 


360  BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO. 

Belgium  in  the  preceding  summer  of  1814,  he  particularly  no- 
ticed the  strength  of  the  position  of  Waterloo,  and  made  a 
minute  of  it  at  the  time,  stating  to  those  who  were  with  him 
that  if  it  ever  should  be  his  fate  to  fight  a  battle  in  that  quarter 
for  the  protection  of  Brussels,  he  should  endeavor  to  do  so  in 
that  position.  And  with  respect  to  the  forest  of  Soignies, 
which  the  French  (and  some  few  English)  critics  have  thought 
calculated  to  prove  so  fatal  to  a  retreating  force,  the  duke,  on 
the  contrary,  believed  it  to  be  a  post  that  might  have  proved  of 
infinite  value  to  his  army  in  the  event  of  his  having  been  obliged 
to  give  way.  The  forest  of  Soignies  has  no  thicket  or  masses 
of  close-growing  trees.  It  consists  of  tall  beaches,  and  is  every- 
where passable  for  men  and  horses.  The  artillery  could  have 
been  withdrawn  by  the  broad  road  which  traverses  it  towards 
Brussels ;  and  in  the  meanwhile  a  few  regiments  of  resolute 
infantry  could  have  held  the  forest  and  kept  the  pursuers  in 
check.  One  of  the  best  writers  on  the  Waterloo  campaign, 
Captain  Pringle,*  well  observes  that  "  every  person  the  least 
experienced  in  war  knows  the  extreme  difficulty  of  forcing 
infantry  from  a  wood  which  cannot  be  turned."  The  defence 
of  the  Bois  de  Bossu  near  Quatre  Bras  on  the  16th  of  June 
had  given  a  good  proof  of  this ;  and  the  Duke  of  Wellington, 
when  speaking  in  after-years  of  the  possible  events  that  might 
have  followed  if  he  had  been  beaten  back  from  the  open  field 
of  Waterloo,  pointed  to  the  wood  of  Soignies  as  his  secure 
rally ing-place,  saying,  "  They  never  could  have  beaten  us  so  that 
we  could  not  have  held  the  wood  against  them."  He  was  al- 
ways confident  that  he  could  have  made  good  that  post  until 
joined  by  the  Prussians,  upon  whose  co-operation  he  through- 
out depended.! 

As  has  been  already  mentioned,  the  Prussians  on  the  morning 
of  the  18th  were  at  Wavre,  which  is  about  twelve  miles  to  the 
east  of  the  field  of  battle  of  Waterloo.  The  junction  of  Bulow's 
division  had  more  than  made  up  for  the  loss  sustained  at  Ligny ; 
and  leaving  Thielman  with  about  seventeen  thousand  men  to 
hold  his  ground,  as  he  best  could,  against  the  attack  which 
Grouchy  was  about  to  make  on  Wavre,  Bulow  and  Bliicher 
moved  with  the  rest  of  the  Prussians  through  St.  Lambert  upon 
Waterloo.     It  was  calculated  that  they  would  be  there  by  three 


*  See  the  Appendix  to  the  8th  volume  of  Scott's  "  Life  of  Napoleon." 
f  See  Lord  EUesmere's  *'  Life  and  Character  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,** 
p.  40. 


BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO.  367 

oVlock ;  but  the  extremely  difficult  nature  of  the  ground  which 
they  had  to  traverse,  rendered  worse  by  the  torrents  of  rain 
that  had  just  fallen,  delayed  them  long  on  their  twelve  miles' 
march. 

An  army,  indeed,  less  animated  by  bitter  hate  against  the 
enemy  than  were  the  Prussians,  and  under  a  less  energetic  chief 
than  Blucher,  would  have  failed  altogether  in  effecting  a  passage 
through  the  swamps  into  which  the  incessant  rain  had  trans- 
formed the  greater  part  of  the  ground  through  which  it  was 
necessary  to  move,  not  only  with  columns  of  foot,  but  with 
cavalry  and  artillery.  At  one  point  of  the  march,  on  entering 
the  defile  of  St.  Lambert,  the  spirits  of  the  Prussians  almost 
gave  way.  Exhausted  in  the  attempts  to  extricate  and  drag 
forward  the  heavy  guns,  the  men  began  to  murmur.  Blucher 
came  to  the  spot,  and  heard  cries  from  the  ranks  of  "  We 
cannot  get  on."  "  But  you  must  get  on,"  was  the  old  field- 
marshal's  answer.  "  I  have  pledged  my  word  to  Wellington, 
and  you  surely  will  not  make  me  break  it.  Only  exert  your- 
selves for  a  few  hours  longer,  and  we  are  sure  of  victory." 
This  appeal  from  old  "  Marshal  Forwards,"  as  the  Prussian 
soldiers  loved  to  call  Blucher,  had  its  wonted  effect.  The  Prus- 
sians again  moved  forward,  slowly,  indeed,  and  with  pain  and 
toil ;  but  still  they  moved  forward.* 

The  French  and  British  armies  lay  on  the  open  field  during 
the  wet  and  stormy  night  of  the  17th;  and  when  the  dawn  of 
the  memorable  18th  of  June  broke,  the  rain  was  still  descend- 
ing heavily  upon  Waterloo.  The  rival  nations  rose  from  their 
dreary  bivouacs,  and  began  to  form,  each  on  the  high  ground 
which  it  occupied.  Towards  nine  the  weather  grew  clearer, 
and  each  army  was  able  to  watch  the  position  and  arrange- 
ments of  the  other  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  valley. 

The  Duke  of  Wellington  drew  up  his  army  in  two  lines ;  the 
principal  one  being  stationed  near  the  crest  of  the  ridge  of  hills 
already  described,  and  the  other  being  arranged  along  the  slope 
in  the  rear  of  his  position.  Commencing  from  the  eastward,  on 
the  extreme  left  of  the  first  or  main  line,  were  Vivian's  and 
Vandeleur's  brigades  of  light  cavalry,  and  the  fifth  Hanoverian 
brigade  of  infantry  under  Von  Vincke.  Then  came  Best's 
fourth  Hanoverian  brigade.  Detachments  from  these  bodies 
of  troops  occupied  the  little  villages  of  Papelotte  and  La  Haye, 
down  the  hollow  in  advance  of  the  left  of  the  duke's  position. 

♦  See  Siborne,  vol.  ii.,  p.  137. 


368  BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO. 

To  the  right  of  Best's  Hanoverians,  Bjlandt's  brigade  of  Dutch 
and  Belgian  infantry  was  drawn  up  on  the  outer  slope  of  the 
heights.  Behind  them  were  the  ninth  brigade  of  British  in- 
fantry under  Pack  ;  and  to  the  right  of  these  last,  but  more  in 
advance,  stood  the  eighth  brigade  of  English  infantry  under 
Kempt.  These  were  close  to  the  Charleroi  road,  and  to  the 
centre  of  the  entire  position.  These  two  English  brigades,  with 
the  fifth  Hanoverian,  made  up  the  fifth  division,  commanded 
by  Sir  Thomas  Picton.  Immediately  to  their  right,  and  west- 
ward of  the  Charleroi  road,  stood  the  third  division,  commanded 
by  General  Alten,  and  consisting  of  Ompteda's  brigade  of  the 
king's  German  Legion  and  Kielmansegge's  Hanoverian  brigade. 
The  important  post  of  La  Haye  Sainte,  which,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, lay  in  front  of  the  duke's  centre,  close  to  the  Charleroi 
road,  was  garrisoned  with  troops  from  this  division.  West- 
ward, and  on  the  right  of  Kielmansegge's  Hanoverians,  stood 
the  fifth  British  brigade  under  Halkett;  and  behind,  Kruse's 
Nassau  brigade  was  posted.  On  the  right  of  Halkett's  men 
stood  the  English  Guards.  They  were  in  two  brigades,  one 
commanded  by  Maitland,  and  the  other  by  Byng.  The  entire 
division  was  under  General  Cooke.  The  buildings  and  gardens 
of  Hougoumont,  which  lay  immediately  under  the  height  on 
which  stood  the  British  Guards,  were  principally  manned  by 
detachments  from  Byng's  brigade,  aided  by  some  brave  Hano- 
verian riflemen,  and  accompanied  by  a  battalion  of  a  Nassau 
regiment.  On  a  plateau  in  the  rear  of  Cooke's  division  of  Guards, 
and  inclining  westward  towards  the  village  of  Merbe  Brain e, 
were  Clinton's  second  infantry  division,  composed  of  Adams's 
third  brigade  of  light  infantry,  Du  Plat's  first  brigade  of  the 
king's  German  Legion,  and  third  Hanoverian  brigade  under 
Colonel  Halkett. 

The  duke  formed  his  second  line  of  cavalry.  This  only  ex- 
tended behind  the  right  and  centre  of  his  first  line.  The  largest 
mass  was  drawn  up  behind  the  brigades  of  infantry  in  the  cen- 
tre, on  either  side  of  the  Charleroi  road.  The  brigade  of  house- 
hold cavalry  under  Lord  Somerset  was  on  the  immediate  right 
of  the  road,  and  on  the  left  of  it  was  Ponsonby's  brigade.  Be- 
hind these  were  Trip's  and  Ghingy's  brigades  of  Dutch  and 
Belgian  horse.  The  third  Hussars  of  the  king's  German  Legion 
were  to  the  right  of  Somerset's  brigade.  To  the  right  of  these, 
and  behind  Maitland's  infantry,  stood  the  third  brigade  under 
Dornberg,  consisting  of  the  23d  English  light  dragoons  and 
the  regiments  of  light  dragoons  of  the  king's  German  Legion. 


BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO. 


369 


The  last  cavalry  on  the  right  was  Grant's  brigade,  stationed  in 
the  rear  of  the  Foot-Guards.  The  corps  of  Brunswickers,  both 
horse  and  foot,  and  the  10th  British  brigade  of  foot,  were  in 
reserve  behind  the  centre  and  right  of  the  entire  position.  The 
artillery  was  distributed  at  convenient  intervals  along  the  front 
of  the  whole  line.  Besides  the  generals  who  have  been  men- 
tioned, Lord  Hill,  Lord  Uxbridge  (who  had  the  general  com- 
mand of  the  cavalry),  the  Prince  of  Orange,  and  General  Chasse 
were  present,  and  acting  under  the  duke.* 


PLAN  OF  THE  BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO. 
JUNB  18th,  1815,  11  A.M. 
I.  Viriaa.  5.  Pack.  9.  Alten. 

J.  Vandeleur.  6.  Bylandt.  10.  Halkett. 

3.  S»ie-Weim»r.  7.  Ponionby.  U.  MmUmmI.  ) 

4.  Beit.  8.  Somerset.  12.  Byng.        ) 


Scale  of  yardi. 


13.  Domberg.   ,  ^dam.. 

14.  Clinton.      \  Duplat. 
(6.  Brunswick.  <  «»^*"- 


*  Prince  Frederick's  force  remained  at  Hal,  and  took  no  part  in  the  battle 
of  the  18th.  The  reason  for  this  arrangement  (which  has  been  much  cavilled 
at)  may  be  best  given  in  the  words  of  Baron  Muffing :  "  The  duke  had  re- 
tired from  Quatre  Bras  in  three  columns,  by  three  chaussees ;  and  on  the 
evening  of  the  17th,  Prince  Frederick  of  Orange  was  at  Hal,  Lord  Hill  at 
Rraine  I'AUeud,  and  the  Prince  of  Orange  with  the  reserve  at  Mont  St.  Jean. 
This  distribution  was  necessary,  as  Napoleon  could  dispose  of  these  three 
roads  for  his  advance  on  Brussels.  Napoleon  on  the  17th  had  pressed  on 
by  Genappe  as  far  as  Rossomme.     On  the  two  other  roads  no  enemy  had  yet 


3^0  BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO. 

On  the  opposite  heights  the  French  army  was  drawn  up  in 
two  general  lines,  with  the  entire  force  of  the  Imperial  Guards, 
cavalry  as  well  as  infantry,  in  rear  of  the  centre,  as  a  reserve. 

The  first  line  of  the  French  army  was  formed  of  the  two  corps 
commanded  by  Count  d'Erlon  and  Count  Reille.  D'Erlon^s 
corps  was  on  the  right,  that  is,  eastward  of  the  Charleroi  road, 
and  consisted  of  four  divisions  of  infantry  under  Generals  Du- 
rette,  Marcognet,  Alix,  and  Donzelot,  and  of  one  division  of  light 
cavalry  under  General  Jaquinot.  Count  Reille's  corps  formed 
the  left  or  western  wing,  and  was  formed  of  Bachelu's,  Foy's, 
and  Jerome  Bonaparte's  divisions  of  infantry  and  of  Fire's 
division  of  cavalry.  The  right  wing  of  the  second  general 
French  line  was  formed  of  Milhaud's  corps,  consisting  of  two 
divisions  of  heavy  cavalry.  The  left  wing  of  this  line  was 
formed  by  Kellermann's  cavalry  corps,  also  in  two  divisions. 
Thus  each  of  the  corps  of  infantry  that  composed  the  first  line 
had  a  corps  of  cavalry  behind  it ;  but  the  second  line  consisted 
also  of  Lobau's  corps  of  infantry  and  Domont  and  Subervie's 
divisions  of  light  cavalry;  these  three  bodies  of  troops  being 
drawn  up  on  either  side  of  La  Belle  Alliance,  and  forming  the 
centre  of  the  second  line.  The  third,  or  reserve,  line  had  its 
centre  composed  of  the  infantry  of  the  Imperial  Guard.  Two 
regiments  of  grenadiers  and  two  of  chasseurs  formed  the  foot 
of  the  Old  Guard  under  General  Friant.  The  Middle  Guard, 
under  Count  Morand,  was  similarly  composed ;  while  two  regi- 


shown  himself.  On  the  18th  the  offensive  was  taken  by  Napoleon  on  its 
greatest  scale,  but  still  the  Nivelles  road  was  not  overstepped  by  his  left 
wing.  These  circumstances  made  it  possible  to  draw  Prince  Frederick  to 
the  army,  which  would  certainly  have  been  done  if  entirely  new  circum- 
stances had  not  arisen.  The  duke  had,  twenty-four  hours  before,  pledged 
himself  to  accept  a  battle  at  Mont  St.  Jean  if  Bliicher  would  assist  him  there 
with  one  corps  of  25,000  men.  This  being  promised,  the  duke  was  taking 
his  measures  for  defence,  when  he  learned  that,  in  addition  to  the  one  corps 
promised,  Bliicher  was  actually  already  on  the  march  with  his  whole  force, 
to  break  in  by  Planchenoit  on  Napoleon's  flank  and  rear.  If  three  corps 
of  the  Prussian  army  should  penetrate  by  the  unguarded  plateau  of  Ros- 
somme,  which  was  not  improbable,  Napoleon  would  be  thrust  from  his  line 
of  retreat  by  Genappe,  and  might  possibly  lose  even  that  by  Nivelles.  In 
this  case  Prince  Frederick,  with  his  18,000  men  (who  might  be  accounted 
superfluous  at  Mont  St.  Jean),  might  have  rendered  the  most  essential  ser- 
vice." See  Muffling,  p.  246,  and  the  Quarterly  Review,  No.  178.  It  is  also 
worthy  of  observation  that  Napoleon  actually  detached  a  force  of  2000  cav- 
airy  to  threaten  Hal,  though  they  returned  to  the  main  French  army  during 
the  night  of  the  17th.  See  "  Victoires  et  Conquetes  des  Frangais,"  vol. 
xziv.,  p.  186. 


BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO.  371 

ments  of  voltigeurs  and  two  of  tirailleurs,  under  Duhesme,  con- 
stituted the  Young  Guard.  The  chasseurs  and  lancers  of  the 
Guard  were  on  the  right  of  the  infantry,  under  Lefebvre  Des- 
nouettes ;  and  the  grenadiers  and  dragoons  of  the  Guards,  under 
Guyot,  were  on  the  left.  All  the  French  corps  comprised,  be- 
sides their  cavalry  and  infantry  regiments,  strong  batteries  of 
horse  artillery ;  and  Napoleon's  numerical  superiority  in  guns 
was  of  deep  importance  throughout  the  action. 

Besides  the  leading  generals  who  have  been  mentioned  as 
commanding  particular  corps,  Ney  and  Soult  were  present,  and 
acted  as  the  emperor's  lieutenants  in  the  battle. 

English  military  critics  have  highly  eulogized  the  admirable 
arrangement  which  Napoleon  made  of  his  forces  of  each  arm, 
so  as  to  give  him  the  most  ample  means  of  sustaining,  by  an 
immediate  and  sufficient  support,  any  attack,  from  whatever 
point  he  might  direct  it ;  and  of  drawing  promptly  together  a 
strong  force,  to  resist  any  attack  that  might  be  made  on  himself 
in  any  part  of  the  field.*  When  his  troops  were  all  arrayed, 
he  rode  along  the  lines,  receiving  everywhere  the  most  enthu- 
siastic cheers  from  his  men,  of  whose  entire  devotion  to  him 
his  assurance  was  now  doubly  sure.  On  the  northern  side  of 
the  valley  the  duke's  army  was  also  drawn  up,  and  ready  to 
meet  the  menaced  attack. 

Wellington  had  caused,  on  the  preceding  night,  every  brigade 
and  corps  to  take  up  its  station  on  or  near  the  part  of  the  ground 
which  it  was  intended  to  hold  in  the  coming  battle.  He  had 
slept  a  few  hours  at  his  headquarters  in  the  village  of  Waterloo ; 
and  rising  ^on  the  18th,  while  it  was  yet  deep  night,  he  wrote 
several  letters  to  the  Governor  of  Antwerp,  to  the  English  Min- 
ister at  Brussels,  and  other  official  personages,  in  which  he  ex- 
pressed his  confidence  that  all  would  go  well ;  but,  "  as  it  was 
necessary  to  provide  against  serious  losses  should  any  accident 
occur,"  he  gave  a  series  of  judicious  orders  for  what  should  be 
done  in  the  rear  of  the  army  in  the  event  of  the  battle  going 
against  the  Allies.  He  also,  before  he  left  the  village  of  Water- 
loo, saw  to  the  distribution  of  the  reserves  of  ammunition  which 
had  been  parked  there,  so  that  supplies  should  be  readily  for- 
warded to  every  part  of  the  line  of  battle  where  they  might  be 
required.  The  duke,  also,  personally  inspected  the  arrange- 
ments that  had  been  made  for  receiving  the  wounded,  and  pro- 
viding temporary  hospitals  in  the  houses  in  the  rear  of  the  army. 

*  Siborne,  vol.  i.,  p.  376. 


372  BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO. 

Then,  mounting  a  favorite  charger,  a  small  thorough-bred  chest- 
nut horse,  named  "  Copenhagen,"  Wellington  rode  forward  to 
the  range  of  hills  where  his  men  were  posted.  Accompanied 
by  his  staff  and  by  the  Prussian  General  Muffling,  he  rode  along 
his  lines,  carefully  inspecting  all  the  details  of  his  position. 
Hougoumont  was  the  object  of  his  special  attention.  He  rode 
down  to  the  southeastern  extremity  of  its  enclosures,  and,  after 
having  examined  the  nearest  French  troops,  he  made  some 
changes  in  the  disposition  of  his  own  men  who  were  to  defend 
that  important  post. 

Having  given  his  final  orders  aboat  Hougoumont,  the  duke 
galloped  back  to  the  high  ground  in  the  right  centre  of  his  posi- 
tion ;  and,  halting  there,  sat  watching  the  enemy  on  the  opposite 
heights,  and  conversing  with  his  staff  with  that  cheerful  serenity 
which  was  ever  his  characteristic  in  the  hour  of  battle. 

Not  all  brave  men  are  thus  gifted;  and  many  a  glance  of 
anxious  excitement  must  have  been  cast  across  the  valley  that 
separated  the  two  hosts  during  the  protracted  pause  which  en- 
sued between  the  completion  of  Napoleon's  preparations  for 
attack  and  the  actual  commencement  of  the  contest.  It  was, 
indeed,  an  awful  calm  before  the  coming  storm,  when  armed 
myriads  stood  gazing  on  their  armed  foes,  scanning  their  num- 
ber, their  array,  their  probable  powers  of  resistance  and  destruc- 
tion, and  listening  with  throbbing  hearts  for  the  momentarily 
expected  note  of  death ;  while  visions  of  victory  and  glory  came 
thronging  on  each  soldier's  high-strung  brain,  not  unmingled 
with  recollections  of  the  home  which  his  fall  might  soon  leave 
desolate,  nor  without  shrinking  nature  sometimes  prompting  the 
cold  thought  that  in  a  few  moments  he  might  be  writhing  in 
agony,  or  lie  a  trampled  and  mangled  mass  of  clay  on  the  grass 
now  waving  so  freshly  and  purely  before  him. 

Such  thoughts  will  arise  in  human  breasts,  though  the  brave 
man  soon  silences  "the  child  within  us  that  trembles  before 
death,"  *  and  nerves  himself  for  the  coming  struggle  by  the 
mental  preparation  which  Xenophon  has  finely  called  "  the  sol- 
dier's arraying  his  own  soul  for  battle."  f  Well,  too,  may  we 
hope  and  believe  that  many  a  spirit  sought  aid  from  a  higher 
and  holier  source  ;  and  that  many  a  fervent,  though  silent, 
prayer  arose  on  that  Sabbath  morn  (the  battle  of  Waterloo  was 
fought  on  a  Sunday)  to  the  Lord  of  Sabaoth,  the  God  of  Bat- 

*  See  Plato,  "  Phsedon,"  c.  60 ;  and  Grote's  "  History  of  Greece,"  vol,  viii., 
p.  656. 
t  "  Hellenica,"  lib.  vii.,  c.  v.,  s.  22. 


BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO.  373 

ties,  from  the  ranks  whence  so  many  thousands  were  about  to 
appear  that  day  before  his  judgment-seat. 

Not  only  to  those  who  were  thus  present  as  spectators  and 
actors  in  the  dread  drama,  but  to  all  Europe,  the  decisive  con- 
test then  impending  between  the  rival  French  and  English  na- 
tions, each  under  its  chosen  chief,  was  the  object  of  exciting 
interest  and  deepest  solicitude.  "  Never,  indeed,  had  two  such 
generals  as  the  I)uke  of  Wellington  and  the  Emperor  Napoleon 
encountered  since  the  day  when  Scipio  and  Hannibal  met  at 
Zama."  * 

The  two  great  champions  who  now  confronted  each  other 
were  equals  in  years,  and  each  had  entered  the  military  profes- 
sion at  the  same  early  age.  The  more  conspicuous  stage  on 
which  the  French  general's  youthful  genius  was  displayed,  his 
heritage  of  the  whole  military  power  of  the  French  Republic, 
the  position  on  which  for  years  he  was  elevated  as  sovereign 
head  of  an  empire  surpassing  that  of  Charlemagne,  and  the  daz- 
zling results  of  his  victories,  which  made  and  unmade  kings,  had 
given  him  a  formidable  pre-eminence  in  the  eyes  of  mankind. 
Military  men  spoke  with  justly  rapturous  admiration  of  the 
brilliancy  of  his  first  Italian  campaigns,  when  he  broke  through 
the  pedantry  of  traditional  tactics,  and  with  a  small  but  prompt- 
ly wielded  force  shattered  army  after  army  of  the  Austrians, 
conquered  provinces  and  capitals,  dictated  treaties,  and  annihi- 
lated or  created  states.  The  iniquity  of  his  Egyptian  expedition 
was  too  often  forgotten  in  contemplating  the  skill  and  boldness 
with  which  he  destroyed  the  Mameluke  cavalry  at  the  Pyramids, 
and  the  Turkish  infantry  at  Aboukir.  None  could  forget  the 
marvellous  passage  of  the  Alps  in  1800,  or  the  victory  of  Ma- 
rengo, which  wrested  Italy  back  from  Austria,  and  destroyed  the 
fruit  of  twenty  victories  which  the  enemies  of  France  had 
gained  over  her  in  the  absence  of  her  favorite  chief.  Even 
higher  seemed  the  glories  of  his  German  campaigns,  the  tri- 
umphs of  XJlm,  of  Austerlitz,  of  Jena,  of  Wagram.  Napoleon's 
disasters  in  Russia,  in  1812,  were  imputed  by  his  admirers  to  the 
elements;  his  reverses  in  Germany,  in  1813,  were  attributed  by 
them  to  treachery ;  and  even  those  two  calamitous  years  had 
been  signalized  by  his  victories  at  Borodino,  at  Lutzen,  at  Baut- 
zen, at  Dresden,  and  at  Hanau.  His  last  campaign,  in  the  early 
months  of  1814,  was  rightly  cited  as  the  most  splendid  exhibi- 
tion of  his  military  genius,  when,  with  a  far  inferior  army,  he 

*  See  swpra,  p.  86. 


374  BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO. 

long  checked  and  frequently  defeated  the  vast  hosts  that  were 
poured  upon  France.  His  followers  fondly  hoped  that  the  cam- 
paign of  1815  would  open  with  another  "  week  of  miracles," 
like  that  which  had  seen  his  victories  at  Montmirail  and  Monte- 
reau.  The  laurel  of  Ligny  was  even  now  fresh  upon  his  brows. 
Bliicher  had  not  stood  before  him ;  and  who  was  the  adversary 
that  now  should  bar  the  emperor's  way  ? 

That  adversary  had  already  overthrown  the  emperor's  best  gen- 
erals and  the  emperor's  best  armies,  and,  like  Napoleon  himself, 
had  achieved  a  reputation  in  more  than  European  wars.  Wel- 
lington was  illustrious  as  the  destroyer  of  the  Mahratta  power,  as 
the  liberator  of  Portugal  and  Spain,  and  the  successful  invader  of 
Southern  France.  In  early  youth  he  had  held  high  command  in 
India;  and  had  displayed  eminent  skill  in  planning  and  combin- 
ing movements,  and  unrivalled  celerity  and  boldness  in  execu- 
tion. On  his  return  to  Europe,  several  years  passed  away  before 
any  fitting  opportunity  was  accorded  for  the  exercise  of  his  genius. 
In  this  important  respect,  Wellington,  as  a  subject,  and  Napoleon, 
as  a  sovereign,  were  far  differently  situated.  At  length  his  ap- 
pointment to  the  command  in  the  Spanish  Peninsula  gave  him  the 
means  of  showing  Europe  that  England  had  a  general  who  could 
revive  the  glories  of  Crecy,  of  Poitiers,  of  Agincourt,  of  Blenheim, 
and  of  Ramilies.  At  the  head  of  forces  always  numerically  far  in- 
ferior to  the  armies  with  which  Napoleon  deluged  the  Peninsula ; 
thwarted  by  jealous  and  incompetent  allies ;  ill-supported  by 
friends,  and  assailed  by  factious  enemies  at  home,  Wellington 
maintained  the  war  for  seven  years,  unstained  by  any  serious  re- 
verse, and  marked  by  victory  in  thirteen  pitched  battles,  at  Vi- 
miera,  the  Douro,  Talavera,  Busaco,  Fuentes  de  Onoro,  Salaman- 
ca, Vittoria,  the  Pyrenees,  the  Bidassoa,  the  Nive,  the  Nivelle, 
Orthes,  and  Toulouse.  Junot,  Victor,  Massena,  Ney,  Marmont, 
and  Jourdain — marshals  whose  names  were  the  terror  of  Conti- 
nental Europe — had  been  baflfled  by  his  skill  and  smitten  down 
by  his  energy,  while  he  liberated  the  kingdoms  of  the  Peninsula 
from  them  and  their  imperial  master.  In  vain  did  Napoleon  at 
last  despatch  Soult,  the  ablest  of  his  lieutenants,  to  turn  the  tide 
of  Wellington's  success,  and  defend  France  against  the  English 
invader.  Wellington  met  Soult's  manoeuvres  with  superior  skill, 
and  his  boldness  with  superior  vigor.  When  Napoleon's  first 
abdication,  in  1814,  suspended  hostilities,  Wellington  was  mas- 
ter of  the  fairest  districts  of  Southern  France ;  and  had  under 
him  a  veteran  army,  with  which  (to  use  his  own  expressive 
phrase)  "he  felt  he  could  have  gone  anywhere  and  done  any- 


BATTLE   OF   WATERLOO.  375 

thing."  The  fortune  of  war  had  hitherto  kept  separate  the 
orbits  in  which  Napoleon  and  he  had  moved.  Now,  on  the  ever- 
memorable  18th  of  June,  1815,  they  met  at  last. 

It  is,  indeed,  remarkable  that  Napoleon,  during  his  numerous 
campaigns  in  Spain  as  well  as  other  countries,  not  only  never 
encountered  the  Duke  of  Wellington  before  the  day  of  Water- 
loo, but  that  he  was  never  until  then  personally  engaged  with 
British  troops,  except  at  the  siege  of  Toulon,  in  1793,  which  was 
the  very  first  incident  of  his  military  career.  Many,  however, 
of  the  French  generals  who  were  with  him  in  1815  knew  well, 
by  sharp  experience,  what  English  soldiers  were,  and  what  the 
leader  was  who  now  headed  them.  Ney,  Foy,  and  other  officers 
who  had  served  in  the  Peninsula,  warned  Napoleon  that  he  would 
find  the  English  infantry  "  very  devils  in  fight."  The  emperor, 
however,  persisted  in  employing  the  old  system  of  attack,  with 
which  the  French  generals  often  succeeded  against  Continental 
troops,  but  which  had  always  failed  against  the  English  in  the 
Peninsula.  He  adhered  to  his  usual  tactics  of  employing  the 
order  of  the  column  ;  a  mode  of  attack  probably  favored  by  him 
(as  Sir  Walter  Scott  remarks)  on  account  of  his  faith  in  the  ex- 
treme valor  of  the  French  officers  by  whom  the  column  was 
headed.  It  is  a  threatening  formation,  well  calculated  to  shake 
the  firmness  of  ordinary  foes ;  but  which,  when  steadily  met,  as 
the  English  have  met  it,  by  heavy  volleys  of  musketry  from  an 
extended  line,  followed  up  by  a  resolute  bayonet  charge,  has  al- 
ways resulted  in  disaster  to  the  assailants.* 

It  was  approaching  noon  before  the  action  commenced.  Na- 
poleon, in  his  "  Memoirs,"  gives  as  the  reason  for  this  delay  the 
miry  state  of  the  ground  through  the  heavy  rain  of  the  preced- 
ing night  and  day,  which  rendered  it  impossible  for  cavalry  or 
artillery  to  manoeuvre  on  it  till  a  few  hours  of  dry  weather  had 
given  it  its  natural  consistency.  It  has  been  supposed,  also,  that 
he  trusted  to  the  effect  which  the  sight  of  the  imposing  array  of 
his  own  forces  was  likely  to  produce  on  the  part  of  the  allied 
army.  The  Belgian  regiments  had  been  tampered  with ;  and 
Napoleon  had  well-founded  hopes  of  seeing  them  quit  the  Duke 
of  Wellington  in  a  body,  and  range  themselves  under  his  own 
eagles.     The  duke,  however,  who  knew  and  did  not  trust  them, 

*  See  especially  Sir  W.  Napier's  glorious  pictures  of  the  battles  of  Busaco 
and  Albuera.  The  theoretical  advantages  of  the  attack  in  column,  and  its 
peculiar  fitness  for  a  French  army,  are  set  forth  in  the  Chevalier  Folard's 
**  Traite  de  la  Colonne,"  prefixed  to  the  first  volume  of  hia  "Polybius."  See 
also  the  preface  to  his  sixth  volume. 


376  BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO. 

had  guarded  against  the  risk  of  this,  by  breaking  up  the  corps  of 
Belgians,  and  distributing  them  in  separate  regiments  among 
troops  on  whom  he  could  rely.* 

At  last,  at  about  half -past  eleven  o'clock.  Napoleon  began  the 
battle  by  directing  a  powerful  force  from  his  left  wing  under  his 
brother.  Prince  Jerome,  to  attack  Hougoumont.  Column  after 
column  of  the  French  now  descended  from  the  west  of  the  south- 
ern heights,  and  assailed  that  post  with  fiery  valor,  which  was 
encountered  with  the  most  determined  bravery.  The  French 
won  the  copse  round  the  house,  but  a  party  of  the  British 
Guards  held  the  house  itself  throughout  the  day.  The  whole 
of  Byng's  brigade  was  required  to  man  this  hotly  contested 
post.  Amid  shell  and  shot,  and  the  blazing  fragments  of  part 
of  the  buildings,  this  obstinate  contest  was  continued.  But  still 
the  English  were  firm  in  Hougoumont ;  though  the  French  occa- 
sionally moved  forward  in  such  numbers  as  enabled  them  to  sur- 
round and  mask  it  with  part  of  their  troops  from  their  left  wing, 
while  others  pressed  onward  up  the  slope,  and  assailed  the 
British  right. 

The  cannonade,  which  commenced  at  first  between  the  British 
right  and  the  French  left,  in  consequence  of  the  attack  on  Hou- 
goumont, soon  became  general  along  both  lines ;  and,  about  one 
o'clock,  Napoleon  directed  a  grand  attack  to  be  made  under 
Marshal  Ney  upon  the  centre  and  left  wing  of  the  allied  army. 
For  this  purpose  four  columns  of  infantry,  amounting  to  about 
eighteen  thousand  men,  were  collected,  supported  by  a  strong 
division  of  cavalry  under  the  celebrated  Kellermann ;  and  seventy- 
four  guns  were  brought  forward  ready  to  be  posted  on  the  ridge 
of  a  little  undulation  of  the  ground  in  the  interval  between  the 
two  principal  chains  of  heights,  so  as  to  bring  their  fire  to  bear 
on  the  duke's  line  at  a  range  of  about  seven  hundred  yards.  By 
the  combined  assault  of  these  formidable  forces,  led  on  by  Ney, 
"the  bravest  of  the  brave,"  Napoleon  hoped  to  force  the  left 
centre  of  the  British  position,  to  take  La  Haye  Sainte,  and  then, 
pressing  forward,  to  occupy  also  the  farm  of  Mont  St.  Jean.  He 
then  could  cut  the  mass  of  Wellington's  troops  off  from  their 
line  of  retreat  upon  Brussels,  and  from  their  own  left,  and  also 
completely  sever  them  from  any  Prussian  troops  that  might  be 
approaching. 

The  columns  destined  for  this  great  and  decisive  operation 
descended  majestically  from  the  French  line  of  hills,  and  gained 

•  Siborne,  vol.  i.,  p.  3*73. 


BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO.  S71 

the  ridge  of  the  intervening  eminence,  on  which  the  batteries 
that  supported  them  were  now  ranged.  As  the  columns  de- 
scended again  from  this  eminence,  the  seventy-four  guns  opened 
over  their  heads  with  terrible  effect  upon  the  troops  of  the  Allies 
that  were  stationed  on  the  heights  to  the  left  of  the  Charleroi 
road.  One  of  the  French  columns  kept  to  the  east,  and  attacked 
the  extreme  left  of  the  Allies  ;  the  other  three  continued  to  move 
rapidly  forwards  upon  the  left  centre  of  the  allied  position.  The 
front  line  of  the  Allies  here  was  composed  of  Bylandt's  brigade 
of  Dutch  and  Belgians.  As  the  French  columns  moved  up  the 
southward  slope  of  the  height  on  which  the  Dutch  and  Belgians 
stood,  and  the  skirmishers  in  advance  began  to  open  their  fire, 
Bylandt's  entire  brigade  turned  and  fled  in  disgraceful  and  dis- 
orderly panic  ;  but  there  were  men  more  worthy  of  the  name 
behind. 

In  this  part  of  the  second  line  of  the  allies  were  posted  Pack 
and  Kempt's  brigades  of  English  infantry,  which  had  suffered 
severely  at  Quatre  Bras.  But  Picton  was  here  as  general  of  di- 
vision, and  not  even  Ney  himself  surpassed  in  resolute  bravery 
that  stern  and  fiery  spirit.  Picton  brought  his  two  brigades 
forward,  side  by  side,  in  a  thin,  two-deep  line.  Thus  joined 
together,  they  were  not  three  thousand  strong.  With  these 
Picton  had  to  make  head  against  the  three  victorious  French 
columns,  upwards  of  four  times  that  strength,  and  who,  encour- 
aged by  the  easy  rout  of  the  Dutch  and  Belgians,  now  came 
confidently  over  the  ridge  of  the  hill.  The  British  infantry 
stood  firm  ;  and  as  the  French  halted  and  began  to  deploy  into 
line,  Picton  seized  the  critical  moment.  He  shouted  in  his  sten- 
torian voice  to  Kempt's  brigade :  "  A  volley,  and  then  charge  !" 
At  a  distance  of  less  than  thirty  yards  that  volley  was  poured 
upon  the  devoted  first  sections  of  the  nearest  column ;  and  then, 
with  a  fierce  hurrah,  the  British  dashed  in  with  the  bayonet. 
Picton  was  shot  dead  as  he  rushed  forward,  but  his  men  pushed 
on  with  the  cold  steel.  The  French  reeled  back  in  confusion. 
Pack's  infantry  had  checked  the  other  two  columns,  and  down 
came  a  whirlwind  of  British  horse  on  the  whole  mass,  sending 
them  staggering  from  the  crest  of  the  hill,  and  cutting  them 
down  by  whole  battalions.  Ponsonby's  brigade  of  heavy  cav- 
alyy  (the  Union  Brigade,  as  it  was  called,  from  its  being  made 
up  of  the  British  Royals,  the  Scots  Greys,  and  the  Irish  Innis- 
killings)  did  this  good  service.  On  went  the  horseman  amid  the 
wrecks  of  the  French  columns,  capturing  two  eagles  and  two 
thousand  prisoners ;  onward  still  they  galloped,  and  sabred  the 


378  BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO. 

artillerymen  of  Ney's  seventy-four  advanced  guns ;  then  sever- 
ing the  traces,  and  cutting  the  throats  of  the  artillery  horses, 
they  rendered  these  guns  totally  useless  to  the  French  through- 
out the  remainder  of  the  day.  While  thus  far  advanced  beyond 
the  British  position  and  disordered  by  success,  they  were  charged 
by  a  large  body  of  French  lancers  and  driven  back  with  severe 
loss,  till  Vandeleur's  light  horse  came  to  their  aid,  and  beat  off 
the  French  lancers  in  their  turn. 

Equally  unsuccessful  with  the  advance  of  the  French  infantry 
in  this  grand  attack  had  been  the  efforts  of  the  French  cavalry 
who  moved  forward  in  support  of  it,  along  the  east  of  the 
Charleroi  road.  Somerset's  cavalry  of  the  English  Household 
Brigade  had  been  launched,  on  the  right  of  Picton's  division, 
against  the  French  horse,  at  the  same  time  that  the  English 
Union  Brigade  of  heavy  horse  charged  the  French  infantry  col- 
umns on  the  left. 

Somerset's  brigade  was  formed  of  the  Life  Guards,  the  Blues, 
and  the  Dragoon  Guards.  The  hostile  cavalry,  which  Kellermann 
led  forward,  consisted  chiefly  of  cuirassiers.  This  steel-clad 
mass  of  French  horsemen  rode  down  some  companies  of  German 
infantry,  near  La  Haye  Sainte,  and,  flushed  with  success,  they 
bounded  onward  to  the  ridge  of  the  British  position.  The  Eng- 
lish Household  Brigade,  led  on  by  the  Earl  of  Uxbridge  in  per- 
son, spurred  forward  to  the  encounter,  and  in  an  instant  the  two 
adverse  lines  of  strong  swordsmen,  on  their  strong  steeds,  dashed 
furiously  together.  A  desperate  and  sanguinary  hand-to-hand 
fight  ensued,  in  which  the  physical  superiority  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxons,  guided  by  equal  skill,  and  animated  with  equal  valor, 
was  made  decisively  manifest.  Back  went  the  chosen  cavalry  of 
France;  and  after  them,  in  hot  pursuit,  spurred  the  English 
Guards.  They  went  forward  as  far  and  as  fiercely  as  their  com- 
rades of  the  Union  Brigade  ;  and,  like  them,  the  Household  cav- 
alry suffered  severely  before  they  regained  the  British  position, 
after  their  magnificent  charge  and  adventurous  pursuit. 

Napoleon's  grand  effort  to  break  the  English  left  centre  had 
thus  completely  failed ;  and  his  right  wing  was  seriously  weak- 
ened by  the  heavy  loss  which  it  had  sustained.  Hougoumont 
was  still  being  assailed,  and  was  still  successfully  resisting. 
Troops  were  now  beginning  to  appear  at  the  edge  of  the  hori- 
zon on  Napoleon's  right,  which  he  too  well  knew  to  be  Prussian, 
though  he  endeavored  to  persuade  his  followers  that  they  were 
Grouchy's  men  coming  to  their  aid. 

Grouchy  was,  in  fact,  now  engaged  at  Wavre  with  his  whole 


BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO.  379 

force  against  Tliielman's  single  Prussian  corps,  while  the  other 
three  corps  of  the  Prussian  army  were  moving  without  opposi- 
tion, save  from  the  difficulties  of  the  ground,  upon  Waterloo. 
Grouchy  believed,  on  the  iVth,  and  caused  Napoleon  to  believe, 
that  the  Prussian  army  was  retreating  by  lines  of  march  re- 
mote from  Waterloo  upon  Namur  and  Maestricht.  Napoleon 
learned  only  on  the  18th  that  there  were  Prussians  in  Wavre, 
and  felt  jealous  about  the  security  of  his  own  right.  He  accord- 
ingly, before  he  attacked  the  English,  sent  Grouchy  orders  to 
engage  the  Prussians  at  Wavre  without  delay,  and  to  approach 
the  main  French  army^  so  as  to  unite  his  communication  with  the 
emperor'' s.  Grouchy  entirely  neglected  this  last  part  of  his  instruc- 
tions ;  and  in  attacking  the  Prussians  whom  he  found  at  Wavre, 
he  spread  his  force  more  and  more  towards  his  right,  that  is  to 
say,  in  the  direction  most  remote  from  Napoleon.  He  thus  knew 
nothing  of  Bliicher's  and  Bulow's  flank  march  upon  Waterloo 
till  six  in  the  evening  of  the  18th,  when  he  received  a  note 
which  Soult,  by  Napoleon's  orders,  had  sent  off  from  the  field  of 
battle  at  Waterloo  at  one  o'clock,  to  inform  Grouchy  that  Bulow 
was  coming  over  the  heights  of  St.  Lambert,  on  the  emperor's 
right  flank,  and  directing  Grouchy  to  approach  and  join  the 
main  army  instantly,  and  crush  Bulow  en  flagrant  delit.  It  was 
then  too  late  for  Grouchy  to  obey ;  but  it  is  remarkable  that  as 
early  as  noon  on  the  18th,  and  while  Grouchy  had  not  proceeded 
as  far  as  Wavre,  he  and  his  suite  heard  the  sound  of  heavy  can- 
nonading in  the  direction  of  Planchenoit  and  Mont  St.  Jean. 
General  Gerard,  who  was  with  Grouchy,  implored  him  to  march 
towards  the  cannonade,  and  join  his  operations  with  those  of 
Napoleon,  who  was  evidently  engaged  with  the  English.  Grouchy 
refused  to  do  so,  or  even  to  detach  part  of  his  force  in  that  di- 
rection. He  said  that  his  instructions  were  to  fight  the  Prussians 
at  Wavre.  He  marched  upon  Wavre,  and  fought  for  the  rest 
of  the  day  with  Thielman  accordingly,  while  Bliicher  and  Bulow 
were  attacking  the  emperor.* 

*  I  have  heard  the  remark  made  that  Grouchy  twice  had  in  his  hands  the 
power  of  changing  the  destinies  of  Europe,  and  twice  wanted  nerve  to  act : 
first,  when  he  flinched  from  landing  the  French  army  at  Bantry  Bay  in  1796 
(he  was  second  in  command  to  Hoche,  whose  ship  was  blown  back  by  a  storm), 
and,  secondly,  when  he  failed  to  lead  his  whole  force  from  Wavre  to  the  scene 
of  decisive  conflict  at  Waterloo.  But  such  were  the  arrangements  of  the 
Prussian  general  that  even  if  Grouchy  had  marched  upon  Waterloo,  he  would 
have  been  held  in  check  by  the  nearest  Prussian  corps,  or  certainly  by  the 
two  nearest  ones,  while  the  rest  proceeded  to  join  Wellington.  This,  however, 
would  have  diminished  the  number  of  Prussians  who  appeared  at  Waterloo, 


380  ^ATTLM  of  WtATERlOO. 

Napoleon  had  witnessed  with  bitter  disappointment  the  rout 
of  his  troops  —  foot,  horse,  and  artillery  —  which  attacked  the 
left  centre  of  the  English,  and  the  obstinate  resistance  which  the 
garrison  of  Hougoumont  opposed  to  all  the  exertions  of  his  left 
wing.  He  now  caused  the  batteries  along  the  line  of  high 
ground  held  by  him  to  be  strengthened,  and  for  some  time  an 
unremitting  and  most  destructive  cannonade  raged  across  the 
valley,  to  the  partial  cessation  of  other  conflict.  But  the  supe- 
rior fire  of  the  French  artillery,  though  it  weakened,  could  not 
break  the  British  line,  and  more  close  and  summary  measures 
were  requisite. 

It  was  now  about  half -past  three  o'clock ;  and  though  Wel- 
lington's army  had  sujffered  severely  by  the  unremitting  cannon- 
ade, and  in  the  late  desperate  encounter,  no  part  of  the  British 
position  had  been  forced.  Napoleon  determined  therefore  to 
try  what  effect  he  could  produce  on  the  British  centre  and  right 
by  charges  of  his  splendid  cavalry,  brought  on  in  such  force 
that  the  duke's  cavalry  could  not  check  them.  Fresh  troops 
were  at  the  same  time  sent  to  assail  La  Haye  Sainte  and  Hou- 
goumont, the  possession  of  these  posts  being  the  emperor's  un- 
ceasing object.  Squadron  after  squadron  of  the  French  cuiras- 
siers accordingly  ascended  the  slopes  on  the  duke's  right,  and 
rode  forward  with  dauntless  courage  against  the  batteries  of  the 
British  artillery  in  that  part  of  the  field.  The  artillerymen  were 
driven  from  their  guns,  and  the  cuirassiers  cheered  loudly  at 
their  supposed  triumph.  But  the  duke  had  formed  his  infantry 
in  squares,  and  the  cuirassiers  charged  in  vain  against  the  im- 
penetrable hedges  of  bayonets,  while  the  fire  from  the  inner 
ranks  of  the  squares  told  with  terrible  effect  on  their  squadrons. 

and  (what  is  still  more  important)  would  have  kept  them  back  to  a  later  hour. 
See  Siborne,  vol.  i.,  p.  323,  and  Gleig,  p.  142. 

There  are  some  very  valuable  remarks  on  this  subject  in  the  VOth  No.  of 
the  Qtiarterly  in  an  article  on  the  "Life  of  Bliicher,"  usually  attributed  to 
Sir  Francis  Head.  The  Prussian  writer,  General  Clausewitz,  is  there  cited  as 
"  expressing  a  positive  opinion,  in  which  every  military  critic  but  a  French- 
man must  concur,  that,  even  had  the  whole  of  Grouchy's  force  been  at  Napo- 
leon's disposal,  the  duke  had  nothing  to  fear  pending  Bliicher's  arrival. 

"  The  duke  is  often  talked  of  as  having  exhausted  his  reserves  in  the  ac- 
tion. This  is  another  gross  error,  which  Clausewitz  has  thoroughly  disposed 
of  (p.  126).  He  enumerates  the  tenth  British  brigade,  the  division  of  Chasse, 
and  the  cavalry  of  Collaert  as  having  been  little  or  not  at  all  engaged ;  and 
he  might  have  also  added  two  brigades  of  light  cavalry."  The  fact,  also,  that 
Wellington  did  not  at  any  part  of  the  day  order  up  Prince  Frederick's  corps 
from  Hal  is  a  conclusive  proof  that  the  duke  was  not  so  distressed  as  some 
writers  have  represented.    Hal  is  not  ten  miles  from  the  field  of  Waterloo. 


BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO.  381 

Time  after  time  they  rode  forward  with  invariably  the  same  re- 
sult ;  and  as  they  receded  from  each  attack  the  British  artillery- 
men rushed  forward  from  the  centres  of  the  squares,  where  they 
had  taken  refuge,  and  plied  their  guns  on  the  retiring  horse- 
men.*    Nearly  the  whole  of  Napoleon's  magnificent  body  of 

*  "  On  came  the  whirlwind — like  the  last 
But  fiercest  sweep  of  tempest  blast — 
On  came  the  whirlwind;  steel-gleams  broke 
Like  lightning  through  the  rolling  smoke; 

The  war  was  waked  anew: 
Three  hundred  cannon-mouths  roared  loud, 
And  from  their  throats,  with  flash  and  cloud, 

Their  showers  of  iron  threw. 
Beneath  their  fire,  in  full  career. 
Rushed  on  the  ponderous  cuirassier; 
The  lancer  couched  his  ruthless  spear, 
And,  hurrying  as  to  havoc  near. 

The  cohorts'  eagles  flew. 
In  one  dark  torrent,  broad  and  strong. 
The  advancing  onset  rolled  along, 
Forth  harbingered  by  fierce  acclaim. 
That,  from  the  shroud  of  smoke  and  flame, 
Fealed  wildly  the  imperial  name. 

"But  on  the  British  heart  were  lost 
The  terrors  of  the  charging  host; 
For  not  an  eye  the  storm  that  viewed 
Changed  its  proud  glance  of  fortitude. 
Nor  was  one  forward  footstep  stayed, 
As  dropped  the  dying  and  the  dead. 
Fast  as  their  ranks  the  thunders  tear. 
Fast  they  renewed  each  serried  square; 
And  on  the  wounded  and  the  slain 
Closed  their  diminished  files  again. 
Till  from  their  line,  scarce  spears'  lengths  three, 
Emerging  from  the  smoke  they  see 
Helmet,  and  plume,  and  panoply : 

Then  waked  their  fire  at  once! 
Each  musketeer's  revolving  knell 
As  fast,  as  regularly  fell 
As  when  they  practise  to  display 
Their  discipline  on  festal  day. 

Then  down  went  helm  and  lance, 
Down  were  the  eagle  banners  sent, 
Down  reeling  steeds  and  riders  went. 
Corslets  were  pierced,  and  pennons  rent; 

And,  to  augment  the  fray, 
Wheeled  full  against  their  staggering  flanks, 
The  English  horsemen's  foaming  ranks 

Forced  their  resistless  way. 


382  BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO. 

heavy  cavalry  was  destroyed  in  these  fruitless  attempts  upon  the 
British  right.  But  in  another  part  of  the  field  fortune  favored 
him  for  a  time.  Two  French  columns  of  infantry  from  Donze- 
lot's  division  took  La  Haye  Sainte  between  six  and  seven  o'clock, 
and  the  means  were  now  given  for  organizing  another  formida- 
ble attack  on  the  centre  of  the  Allies. 

There  was  no  time  to  be  lost — Bliicher  and  Bulow  were  be- 
ginning to  press  hard  upon  the  French  right.  As  early  as  five 
o'clock,  Napoleon  had  been  obliged  to  detach  Lobau's  infantry 
and  Domont's  horse  to  check  these  new  enemies.  They  suc- 
ceeded in  doing  so  for  a  time ;  but  as  larger  numbers  of  the 
Prussians  came  on  the  field,  they  turned  Lobau's  right  flank, 
and  sent  a  strong  force  to  seize  the  village  of  Planchenoit,  which, 
it  will  be  remembered,  lay  in  the  rear  of  the  French  right. 

The  design  of  the  Allies  was  not  merely  to  prevent  Napoleon 
from  advancing  upon  Brussels,  but  to  cut  off  his  line  of  retreat 
and  utterly  destroy  his  army.    The  defence  of  Planchenoit  there- 
fore became  absolutely  essential  for  the  safety  of  the  French,  and 
Napoleon  was  obliged  to  send  his  Young  Guard  to  occupy  that 
village,  which  was  accordingly  held  by  them  with  great  gallantry 
against  the  reiterated  assaults  of  the  Prussian  left,  under  Bulow. 
Three  times  did  the  Prussians  fight  their  way  into  Planchenoit, 
and  as  often  did  the  French  drive  them  out :  the  contest  was 
maintained  with  the  fiercest  desperation  on  both  sides,  such  be- 
ing the  animosity  between  the  two  nations  that  quarter  was  sel- 
dom given  or  even  asked.     Other  Prussian  forces  were  now  ap- 
pearing on  the  field  nearer  to  the  English  left ;  whom  also  Napo- 
leon kept  in  check,  by  troops  detached  for  that  purpose.     Thus 
a  large  part  of  the  French  army  was  now  thrown  back  on  a  line 
at  right  angles  with  the  line  of  that  portion  which  still  con- 
fronted and  assailed  the  English  position.    But  this  portion  was 
now  numerically  inferior  to  the  force  under  the  Duke  of  Wei- 
Then  to  the  musket-knell  succeeds 
The  clash  of  swords,  the  neigh  of  steeds ; 
As  plies  the  smith  his  clanging  trade, 
Against  the  cuirass  rang  the  blade ; 
And  while  amid  their  close  array 
The  well-served  cannon  rent  their  way, 
And  while  amid  their  scattered  band 
Raged  the  fierce  rider's  bloody  brand, 
Recoiled,  in  common  rout  and  fear. 
Lancer  and  guard  and  cuirassier, 
Horsemen  and  foot — a  mingled  host, 
Their  leaders  fall'n,  their  standards  lost." — Scott, 


BATTLE  OF   WATERLOO.  883 

lington,  wbicli  Napoleon  had  been  assailing  tlirougliout  the  day, 
without  gaining  any  other  advantage  than  the  capture  of  La  Haye 
Sainte.  It  is  true  that,  owing  to  the  gross  misconduct  of  the 
greater  part  of  the  Dutch  and  Belgian  troops,  the  duke  was 
obliged  to  rely  exclusively  on  his  English  and  German  soldiers, 
and  the  ranks  of  these  had  been  fearfully  thinned ;  but  the  sur- 
vivors stood  their  ground  heroically,  and  opposed  a  resolute 
front  to  every  forward  movement  of  their  enemies. 

On  no  point  of  the  British  line  was  the  pressure  more  severe 
than  on  Halkett's  brigade  in  the  right  centre,  which  was  com- 
posed of  battalions  of  the  30th,  the  33d,  the  69th,  and  the  73d 
British  regiments.  We  fortunately  can  quote  from  the  journal* 
of  a  brave  officer  of  the  30th  a  narrative  of  what  took  place  in 
this  part  of  the  field.  The  late  Major  Macready  served  at  Wa- 
terloo in  the  light  company  of  the  30th.  The  extent  of  the 
peril  and  the  carnage  which  Halkett's  brigade  had  to  encounter 
may  be  judged  of  by  the  fact  that  this  light  company  marched 
into  the  field  three  officers  and  fifty-one  men,  and  that  at  the  end 
of  the  battle  they  stood  one  officer  and  ten  men.  Major  Ma- 
cready's  blunt  soldierly  account  of  what  he  actually  saw  and  felt 
gives  a  far  better  idea  of  the  terrific  scene  than  can  be  gained 
from  the  polished  generalizations  which  the  conventional  style 
of  history  requires,  or  even  from  the  glowing  stanzas  of  the  poet. 
During  the  earlier  part  of  the  day  Macready  and  his  light  com- 
pany were  thrown  forward  as  skirmishers  in  front  of  the  brigade ; 
but  when  the  French  cavalry  commenced  their  attacks  on  the 
British  right  centre,  he  and  his  comrades  were  ordered  back. 
The  brave  soldier  thus  himself  describes  what  passed : 

"  Before  the  commencement  of  this  attack  our  company  and 
the  grenadiers  of  the  73d  were  skirmishing  briskly  in  the  low 
ground,  covering  our  guns,  and  annoying  those  of  the  enemy. 
The  line  of  tirailleurs  opposed  to  us  was  not  stronger  than  our 
own,  but  on  a  sudden  they  were  reinforced  by  numerous  bodies, 
and  several  guns  began  playing  on  us  with  canister.  Our  poor 
fellows  dropped  very  fast,  and  Colonel  Vigoureux,  Rumley,  and 
Pratt  were  carried  off  badly  wounded  in  about  two  minutes.  I 
was  now  commander  of  our  company.  We  stood  under  this 
hurricane  of  small  shot  till  Halkett  sent  to  order  us  in,  and  I 
brought  away  about  a  third  of  the  light  bobs ;  the  rest  were 
killed  or  wounded,  and  1  really  wonder  how  one  of  them  escaped. 

*  This  excellent  journal  was  published  in  the  "  United  Service  Magazine  " 
during  the  year  1852. 


384  BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO. 

As  our  bugler  was  killed,  I  shouted  and  made  signals  to  move 
by  the  left,  in  order  to  avoid  the  fire  of  our  guns,  and  to  put  as 
good  a  face  upon  the  business  as  possible. 

"  When  I  reached  Lloyd's  abandoned  guns,  I  stood  near  them 
for  about  a  minute  to  contemplate  the  scene :  it  was  grand  be- 
yond description.  Hougoumont  and  its  wood  sent  up  a  broad 
flame  through  the  dark  masses  of  smoke  that  overhung  the 
field ;  beneath  this  cloud  the  French  were  indistinctly  visible. 
Here  a  waving  mass  of  long  red  feathers  could  be  seen ;  there, 
gleams  as  from  a  sheet  of  steel  showed  that  the  cuirassiers  were 
moving ;  400  cannon  were  belching  forth  fire  and  death  on  every 
side ;  the  roaring  and  shouting  were  indistinguishably  commixed 
— together  they  gave  me  an  idea  of  a  laboring  volcano.  Bodies 
of  infantry  and  cavalry  were  pouring  down  on  us,  and  it  was 
time  to  leave  contemplation,  so  I  moved  towards  our  columns, 
which  were  standing  up  in  square.  Our  regiment  and  73d 
formed  one,  and  33d  and  69th  another;  to  our  right  beyond 
them  were  the  Guards,  and  on  our  left  the  Hanoverians  and 
German  Legion  of  our  division.  As  I  entered  the  rear  face 
of  our  square  I  had  to  step  over  a  body,  and,  looking  down, 
recognized  Harry  Beere,  an  officer  of  our  grenadiers,  who  about 
an  hour  before  shook  hands  with  me,  laughing,  as  I  left  the  col- 
umns. I  was  on  the  usual  terms  of  military  intimacy  with  poor 
Harry — that  is  to  say,  if  either  of  us  had  died  a  natural  death, 
the  other  would  have  pitied  him  as  a  good  fellow,  and  smiled  at 
his  neighbor  as  he  congratulated  him  on  the  step ;  but  seeing 
his  herculean  frame  and  animated  countenance  thus  suddenly 
stiff  and  motionless  before  me  (I  know  not  whence  the  feeling 
could  originate,  for  I  had  just  seen  my  dearest  friend  drop, 
almost  with  indifference),  the  tears  started  in  my  eyes  as  I 
sighed  out,  *  Poor  Harry  !'  The  tear  was  not  dry  on  my  cheek 
when  poor  Harry  was  no  longer  thought  of.  In  a  few  minutes 
after,  the  enemy's  cavalry  galloped  up  and  crowned  the  crest  of 
our  position.  Our  guns  were  abandoned,  and  they  formed  be- 
tween the  two  brigades,  about  a  hundred  paces  in  our  front. 
Their  first  charge  was  magnificent.  As  soon  as  they  quickened 
their  trot  into  a  gallop,  the  cuirassiers  bent  their  heads  so  that 
the  peaks  of  their  helmets  looked  like  vizors,  and  they  seemed 
cased  in  armor  from  the  plume  to  the  saddle.  Not  a  shot  was 
fired  till  they  were  within  thirty  yards,  when  the  word  was 
given,  and  our  men  fired  away  at  them.  The  effect  was  mag- 
ical. Through  the  smoke  we  could  see  helmets  falling,  cavaliers 
starting  from  their  seats  with  convulsive  springs  as  they  re- 


^AfTzM  OP  WAfJ^kLOO.  385 

ceived  our  balls,  horses  plunging  and  rearing  in  the  agonies  of 
fright  and  pain,  and  crowds  of  the  soldiery  dismounted,  part  of 
the  squadron  in  retreat,  but  the  more  daring  remainder  backing 
their  horses  to  force  them  on  our  bayonets.  Our  fire  soon  dis- 
posed of  these  gentlemen.  The  main  body  re-formed  in  our 
front,  and  rapidly  and  gallantly  repeated  their  attacks.  In 
fact,  from  this  time  (about  four  o'clock)  till  near  six,  we  had  a 
constant  repetition  of  these  brave  but  unavailing  charges.  There 
was  no  difficulty  in  repulsing  them,  but  our  ammunition  de- 
creased alarmingly.  At  length  an  artillery  wagon  galloped  up, 
emptied  two  or  three  casks  of  cartridges  into  the  square,  and 
we  were  all  comfortable. 

"  The  best  cavalry  is  contemptible  to  a  steady  and  well-sup- 
plied infantry  regiment;  even  our  men  saw  this,  and  began  to 
pity  the  useless  perseverance  of  their  assailants,  and,  as  they 
advanced,  would  growl  out,  *  Here  come  these  fools  again  !' 
One  of  their  superior  officers  tried  a  ruse  de  guerre^  by  advanc- 
ing and  dropping  his  sword,  as  though  he  surrendered  ;  some  of 
us  were  deceived  by  him,  but  Halkett  ordered  the  men  to  fire, 
and  he  coolly  retired,  saluting  us.  Their  devotion  was  invinci- 
ble. One  officer  whom  we  had  taken  prisoner  was  asked  what 
force  Napoleon  might  have  in  the  field,  and  replied  with  a  smile 
of  mingled  derision  and  threatening,  ^Yous  verrez  bientot  sa 
force,  messieurs !'  A  private  cuirassier  was  wounded  and 
dragged  into  the  square ;  his  only  cry  was,  *  Tuez  done,  tuez, 
tuez  moi,  soldats !'  and  as  one  of  our  men  dropped  dead  close 
to  him,  he  seized  his  bayonet,  and  forced  it  into  his  own  neck ; 
but  this  not  despatching  him,  he  raised  up  his  cuirass,  and, 
plunging  the  bayonet  into  his  stomach,  kept  working  it  about 
till  he  ceased  to  breathe. 

"Though  we  constantly  thrashed  our  steel-clad  opponents, 
we  found  more  troublesome  customers  in  the  round  shot  and 
grape,  which  all  this  time  played  on  us  with  terrible  effect,  and 
fully  avenged  the  cuirassiers.  Often  as  the  volleys  created 
openings  in  our  square  would  the  cavalry  dash  on,  but  they 
were  uniformly  unsuccessful.  A  regiment  on  our  right  seemed 
sadly  disconcerted,  and  at  one  moment  was  in  considerable  con- 
fusion. Halkett  rode  out  to  them,  and,  seizing  their  color, 
waved  it  over  his  head,  and  restored*  them  to  something  like 
order,  though  not  before  his  horse  was  shot  under  him.  At  the 
height  of  their  unsteadiness  we  got  the  order  to  *  right  face '  to 
move  to  their  assistance  ;  some  of  the  men  mistook  it  for  '  right 
about  face,'  and  faced  accordingly,  when  old  Major   M'Laine, 


386  BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO. 

73d,  called  out,  *  No,  my  boys,  it's  "  right  face ;"  you'll  never 
hear  the  right  about  as  long  as  a  French  bayonet  is  in  front  of 
you !'  In  a  few  moments  he  was  mortally  wounded.  A  regi- 
ment of  light  dragoons,  by  their  facings  either  the  16th  or 
23d,  came  up  to  our  left  and  charged  the  cuirassiers.  We  cheered 
each  other  as  they  passed  us ;  they  did  all  they  could,  but  were 
obliged  to  retire  after  a  few  minutes  at  the  sabre.  A  body  of 
Belgian  cavalry  advanced  for  the  same  purpose,  but  on  passing 
our  square  they  stopped  short.  Our  noble  Halkett  rode  out  to 
them  and  offered  to  charge  at  their  head ;  it  was  of  no  use ;  the 
Prince  of  Orange  came  up  and  exhorted  them  to  do  their  duty, 
but  in  vain.  They  hesitated  till  a  few  shots  whizzed  through 
them,  when  they  turned  about,  and  galloped  like  fury,  or, 
rather,  like  fear.  As  they  passed  the  right  face  of  our  square 
the  men,  irritated  by  their  rascally  conduct,  unanimously  took 
up  their  pieces  and  fired  a  volley  into  them,  and  *  many  a  good 
fellow  was  destroyed  so  cowardly.' 

"  The  enemy's  cavalry  were  by  this  time  nearly  disposed  of, 
and  as  they  had  discovered  the  inutility  of  their  charges,  they 
commenced  annoying  us  by  a  spirited  and  well-directed  carbine 
fire.  While  we  were  employed  in  this  manner  it  was  impossi- 
ble to  see  farther  than  the  columns  on  our  right  and  left,  but  I 
imagine  most  of  the  army  were  similarly  situated :  all  the  Brit- 
ish and  Germans  were  doing  their  duty.  About  six  o'clock  I 
perceived  some  artillery  trotting  up  our  hill,  which  I  knew  by 
their  caps  to  belong  to  the  Imperial  Guard.  I  had  hardly  men- 
tioned this  to  a  brother  officer  when  two  guns  unlimbered  with- 
in seventy  paces  of  us,  and,  by  their  first  discharge  of  grape, 
blew  seven  men  into  the  centre  of  the  square.  They  immedi- 
ately reloaded,  and  kept  up  a  constant  and  destructive  fire.  It 
was  noble  to  see  our  fellows  fill  up  the  gaps  after  every  dis- 
charge. I  was  much  distressed  at  this  moment ;  having  ordered 
up  three  of  my  light  bobs,  they  had  hardly  taken  their  station 
when  two  of  them  fell,  horribly  lacerated.  One  of  them  looked 
up  in  my  face  and  uttered  a  sort  of  reproachful  groan,  and  I  in- 
voluntarily exclaimed,  *  I  couldn't  help  it.'  We  would  willingly 
have  charged  these  guns,  but,  had  we  deployed,  the  cavalry 
that  flanked  them  would  have  made  an  example  of  us. 

"  The  '  vivida  vis  animi ' — the  glow  which  fires  one  upon  en- 
tering into  action — had  ceased ;  it  was  now  to  be  seen  which 
side  had  most  bottom,  and 'would  stand  killing  longest.  The 
duke  visited  us  frequently  at  this  momentous  period;  he  was 
coolness  personified.     As  he  crossed  the  rear  face  of  our  square 


BATTLE  OF   WATERLOO.  387 

a  shell  fell  amongst  our  grenadiers,  and  he  checked  his  horse  to 
see  its  effect.  Some  men  were  blown  to  pieces  by  the  explosion, 
and  he  merely  stirred  the  rein  of  his  charger,  apparently  as  lit- 
tle concerned  at  their  fate  as  at  his  own  danger.  No  leader 
ever  possessed  so  fully  the  confidence  of  his  soldiery :  wherever 
he  appeared,  a  murmur  of  *  Silence  !  Stand  to  your  front !  Here's 
the  duke !'  was  heard  through  the  column,  and  then  all  was 
steady  as  on  a  parade.  His  aides-de-camp.  Colonels  Canning 
and  Gordon,  fell  near  our  square,  and  the  former  died  within  it. 
As  he  came  near  us  late  in  the  evening,  Halkett  rode  out  to  him 
and  represented  our  weak  state,  begging  his  Grace  to  afford  us 
a  little  support.  '  It's  impossible,  Halkett,'  said  he.  And  our  gen- 
eral replied, '  If  so,  sir,  you  may  depend  on  the  brigade  to  a  man !' " 

All  accounts  of  the  battle  show  that  the  duke  was  ever  pres- 
ent at  each  spot  where  danger  seemed  the  most  pressing ;  in- 
spiriting his  men  by  a  few  homely  and  good-humored  words; 
and  restraining  their  impatience  to  be  led  forward  to  attack  in 
their  turn.  "  Hard  pounding  this,  gentlemen :  we  will  try  who 
can  pound  the  longest,"  was  his  remark  to  a  battalion,  on  which 
the  storm  from  the  French  guns  was  pouring  with  peculiar  fury. 
Riding  up  to  one  of  the  squares,  which  had  been  dreadfully 
weakened,  and  against  which  a  fresh  attack  of  French  cavalry 
was  coming,  he  called  to  them :  "  Stand  firm,  my  lads ;  what  will 
they  say  of  this  in  England  ?"  As  he  rode  along  another  part 
of  the  line  where  the  men  had  for  some  time  been  falling  fast 
beneath  the  enemy's  cannonade,  without  having  any  close  fight- 
ing, a  murmur  reached  his  ear  of  natural  eagerness  to  advance 
and  do  something  more  than  stand  still  to  be  shot  at.  The 
duke  called  to  them :  "  Wait  a  little  longer,  my  lads,  and  you 
shall  have  your  wish."  The  men  were  instantly  satisfied  and 
steady.  It  was,  indeed,  indispensable  for  the  duke  to  bide  his 
time.  The  premature  movement  of  a  single  corps  down  from 
the  British  line  of  heights  would  have  endangered  the  whole 
position,  and  have  probably  made  Waterloo  a  second  Hastings. 

But  the  duke  inspired  all  under  him  with  his  own  spirit  of 
patient  firmness.  When  other  generals  besides  Halkett  sent  to 
him  begging  for  reinforcements,  or  for  leave  to  withdraw  corps 
which  were  reduced  to  skeletons,  the  answer  was  the  same :  *'  It 
is  impossible ;  you  must  hold  your  ground  to  the  last  man,  and 
all  will  be  well."  He  gave  a  similar  reply  to  some  of  his  staff, 
who  asked  instructions  from  him,  so  that,  in  the  event  of  his 
falling,  his  successor  might  follow  out  his  plan.  He  answered, 
"  My  plan  is  simply  to  stand  my  ground  here  to  the  last  man." 


388  BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO. 

His  personal  danger  was  indeed  imminent  throughout  the  day ; 
and  though  he  escaped  without  injury  to  himself  or  horse,  one 
only  of  his  numerous  staff  was  equally  fortunate.* 

Napoleon  had  stationed  himself  during  the  battle  on  a  little 
hillock  near  La  Belle  Alliance,  in  the  centre  of  the  French  posi- 
tion. Here  he  was  seated,  with  a  large  table  from  the  neigh- 
boring farm-house  before  him,  on  which  maps  and  plans  were 
spread ;  and  thence  with  his  telescope  he  surveyed  the  various 
points  of  the  field.  Soult  watched  his  orders  close  at  his  left 
hand,  and  his  staff  was  grouped  on  horseback  a  few  paces  in 
the  rear.f  Here  he  remained  till  near  the  close  of  the  day,  pre- 
serving the  appearance  at  least  of  calmness,  except  some  expres- 
sions of  irritation  which  escaped  him,  when  Ney's  attack  on  the 
British  left  centre  was  defeated.  But  now  that  the  crisis  of  the 
battle  was  evidently  approaching,  he  mounted  a  white  Persian 
charger,  which  he  rode  in  action  because  the  troops  easily  rec- 
ognized him  by  the  horse's  color.  He  had  still  the  means  of 
effecting  a  retreat.  His  Old  Guard  had  yet  taken  no  part  in  the 
action.  Under  cover  of  it,  he  might  have  withdrawn  his  shat- 
tered forces  and  retired  upon  the  French  frontier.  But  this 
would  only  have  given  the  English  aild  Prussians  the  oppor- 
tunity of  completing  their  junction ;   and  he  knew  that  other 

•  "  As  far  as  the  French  accounts  would  lead  us  to  infer,  it  appears  that 
the  losses  among  Napoleon's  staff  were  comparatively  trifling.  On  this  sub- 
ject,  perhaps,  the  marked  contrast  afforded  by  the  following  anecdotes,  which 
have  been  related  to  me  on  excellent  authority,  may  tend  to  throw  some 
light.  At  one  period  of  the  battle,  when  the  duke  was  surrounded  by 
several  of  his  staff,  it  was  very  evident  that  the  group  had  become  the  ob- 
ject of  the  fire  of  a  French  battery.  The  shot  fell  fast  about  them,  generally 
striking  and  turning  up  the  ground  on  which  they  stood.  Their  horses  be- 
came restive,  and  '  Copenhagen '  himself  so  fidgety  that  the  duke,  getting 
impatient,  and  having  reasons  for  remaining  on  the  spot,  said  to  those  about 
him,  *  Gentlemen,  we  are  rather  too  close  together — better  to  divide  a  little.' 
Subsequently,  at  another  point  of  the  line,  an  officer  of  artillery  came  up  to 
the  duke,  and  stated  that  he  had  a  distinct  view  of  Napoleon,  attended  by  his 
staff;  that  he  had  the  guns  of  his  battery  well  pointed  in  that  direction,  and 
was  prepared  to  fire.  His  Grace  instantly  and  emphatically  exclaimed,  'No! 
no !  I'll  not  allow  it.  It  is  not  the  business  of  commanders  to  be  firing  upon 
each  other.' " — Siborne,  vol.  ii.,  p.  263.  How  different  is  this  from  Napoleon's 
conduct  at  the  battle  of  Dresden,  when  he  personally  directed  the  fire  of  the 
battery,  which,  as  he  thought,  killed  the  Emperor  Alexander,  and  actually 
killed  Moreau. 

f  "  Souvenirs  Militaires,"  par  Col.  Lemonnier-Delafosse,  p.  407.  "  Ouvrard, 
who  attended  Napoleon  as  chief  commissary  of  the  French  army  on  that  oc- 
casion, told  me  that  Napoleon  was  suffering  from  a  complwnt  wbiQb  made  it 
very  painful  for  him  to  ride." — Lord  Ellesmere,  p.  47, 


BATTLE  OF   WATERLOO.  389 

armies  were  fast  coming  up  to  aid  them  in  a  march  upon  Paris, 
if  he  should  succeed  in  avoiding  an  encounter  with  them,  and 
retreating  upon  the  capital.  A  victory  at  Waterloo  was  his  only 
alternative  from  utter  ruin,  and  he  determined  to  employ  his 
Guard  in  one  bold  stroke  more  to  make  that  victory  his  own. 

Between  seven  and  eight  o'clock,  the  infantry  of  the  Old 
Guard  was  formed  into  two  columns,  on  the  declivity  near  La 
Belle  Alliance.  Ney  was  placed  at  their  head.  Napoleon  him- 
self rode  forward  to  a  spot  by  which  his  veterans  were  to  pass ; 
and,  as  they  approached,  he  raised  his  arm,  and  pointed  to  the 
position  of  the  Allies,  as  if  to  tell  them  that  their  path  lay  there. 
They  answered  with  loud  cries  of  "  Vive  I'Empereur !"  and  de- 
scended the  hill  from  their  own  side,  into  that  "  valley  of  the 
shadow  of  death,"  while  the  batteries  thundered  with  redoubled 
vigor  over  their  heads  upon  the  British  line.  The  line  of  march 
of  the  columns  of  the  Guard  was  directed  between  Hougoumont 
and  La  Haye  S^inte,  against  the  British  right  centre ;  and  at  the 
same  time  the  French  under  Donzelot,  who  had  possession  of 
La  Haye  Sainte,  commenced  a  fierce  attack  upon  the  British 
centre,  a  little  more  to  its  left.  This  part  of  the  battle  has 
drawn  less  attention  than  the  celebrated  attack  of  the  Old 
Guard ;  but  it  formed  the  most  perilous  crisis  for  the  allied 
army ;  and  if  the  Young  Guard  had  been  there  to  support  Don- 
zelot, instead  of  being  engaged  with  the  Prussians  at  Planche- 
noit,  the  consequences  to  the  Allies  in  that  part  of  the  field 
must  have  been  most  serious.  The  French  tirailleurs,  who  were 
posted  in  clouds  in  La  Haye  Sainte,  and  the  sheltered  spots 
near  it,  picked  off  the  artillerymen  of  the  English  batteries  near 
them ;  and,  taking  advantage  of  the  disabled  state  of  the  Eng- 
lish guns,  the  French  brought  some  field-pieces  up  to  La  Haye 
Sainte,  and  commenced  firing  grape  from  them  on  the  infantry 
of  the  Allies,  at  a  distance  of  not  more  than  a  hundred  paces. 
The  allied  infantry  here  consisted  of  some  German  brigades, 
who  were  formed  in  squares,  as  it  was  believed  that  Donzelot 
had  cavalry  ready  behind  La  Haye  Sainte  to  charge  them  with 
if  they  left  that  order  of  formation.  In  this  state  the  Germans 
remained  for  some  time  with  heroic  fortitude,  though  the  grape- 
shot  was  tearing  gaps  in  their  ranks,  and  the  side  of  one  square 
was  literally  blown  away  by  one  tremendous  volley  which  the 
French  gunners  poured  into  it.  The  Prince  of  Orange  in  vain 
endeavored  to  lead  some  Nassau  troops  to  the  aid  of  the  brave 
Germans.  The  Nassauers  would  not  or  could  not  face  the 
French ;  and  some  battalions  of  Brunswickers,  whom  the  Duke 


390  BATTLE  OF   WATERLOO. 

of  Wellington  had  ordered  up  as  a  reinforcement,  at  first  fell 
back,  until  the  duke  in  person  rallied  them,  and  led  them  on. 
Having  thus  barred  the  farther  advance  of  Dojizelot,  the  duke 
galloped  off  to  the  right  to  head  his  men  who  were  exposed  to 
the  attack  of  the  Imperial  Guard.  He  had  saved  one  part  of 
his  centre  from  being  routed;  but  the  French  had  gained 
ground  and  kept  it;  and  the  pressure  on  the  Allied  line  in  front 
of  La  Haye  Sainte  was  fearfully  severe,  until  it  was  relieved  by 
the  decisive  success  which  the  British  in  the  right  centre 
achieved  over  the  columns  of  the  Guard. 

The  British  troops  on  the  crest  of  that  part  of  the  position, 
which  the  first  column  of  Napoleon's  Guards  assailed,  were 
Maitland's  brigade  of  British  Guards,  having  Adams's  brigade 
(which  had  been  brought  forward  during  the  action)  on  their 
right.  Maitland's  men  were  lying  down,  in  order  to  avoid  as 
far  as  possible  the  destructive  effect  of  the  French  artillery, 
which  kept  up  an  unremitting  fire  from  the  opposite  heights, 
until  the  first  column  of  the  Imperial  Guard  had  advanced  so 
far  up  the  slope  towards  the  British  position  that  any  further 
firing  of  the  French  artillerymen  would  have  endangered  their 
own  comrades.  Meanwhile  the  British  guns  were  not  idle;  but 
shot  and  shell  ploughed  fast  through  the  ranks  of  the  stately 
array  of  veterans  that  still  moved  imposingly  on.  Several  of 
the  French  superior  oflScers  were  at  its  head.  Ney's  horse  was 
shot  under  him,  but  he  still  led  the  way  on  foot,  sword  in  hand. 
The  front  of  the  massive  column  now  was  on  the  ridge  of  the 
hill.  To  their  surprise  they  saw  no  troops  before  them.  All 
they  could  discern  through  the  smoke  was  a  small  band  of 
mounted  officers.  One  of  them  was  the  duke  himself.  The 
French  advanced  to  about  fifty  yards  from  where  the  British 
guards  were  lying  down,  when  the  voice  of  one  of  the  group 
of  British  officers  was  heard  calling,  as  if  to  the  ground  before 
him,  "  Up,  Guards,  and  at  them !"  It  was  the  duke  who  gave 
the  order ;  and  at  the  words,  as  if  by  magic,  up  started  before 
them  a  line  of  the  British  Guards  four  deep,  and  in  the  most 
compact  and  perfect  order.  They  poured  an  instantaneous  vol- 
ley upon  the  head  of  the  French  column,  by  which  no  less  than 
three  hundred  of  those  chosen  veterans  are  said  to  have  fallen. 
The  French  officers  rushed  forward ;  and,  conspicuous  in  front 
of  their  men,  attempted  to  deploy  them  into  a  more  extended 
line,  so  as  to  enable  them  to  reply  with  effect  to  the  British  fire. 
But  Maitland's  brigade  kept  showering  in  volley  after  volley 
with  deadly  rapidity.     The  decimated  column  grew  disordered 


BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO.  391 

in  its  vain  efforts  to  expand  itself  into  a  more  efficient  forma- 
tion. The  right  word  was  given  at  the  right  moment  to  the 
British  for  the  bayonet-charge,  and  the  brigade  sprang  forward 
with  a  loud  cheer  against  their  dismayed  antagonists.  In  an  in- 
stant the  compact  mass  of  the  French  spread  out  into  a  rabble, 
and  they  fled  back  down  the  hill,  pursued  by  Maitland's  men, 
who,  however,  returned  to  their  position  in  time  to  take  part  in 
the  repulse  of  the  second  column  of  the  Imperial  Guard. 

This  column  also  advanced  with  great  spirit  and  firmness  un- 
der the  connonade  which  was  opened  on  it ;  and,  passing  by  the 
eastern  wall  of  Hougoumont,  diverged  slightly  to  the  right  as  it 
moved  up  the  slope  towards  the  British  position,  so  as  to  ap- 
proach nearly  the  same  spot  where  the  first  column  had  sur- 
mounted the  height,  and  been  defeated.  This  enabled  the 
British  regiments  of  Adams's  brigade  to  form  a  line  paralled  to 
the  left  flank  of  the  French  column ;  so  that  while  the  front  of 
this  column  of  French  Guards  had  to  encounter  the  cannonade 
of  the  British  batteries  and  the  musketry  of  Maitland's  guards, 
its  left  flank  was  assailed  with  a  destructive  fire  by  a  four-deep 
body  of  British  infantry,  extending  all  along  it.  In  such  a  po- 
sition all  the  bravery  and  skill  of  the  French  veterans  were  vain. 
The  second  column,  like  its  predecessor,  broke  and  fled,  taking 
at  first  a  lateral  direction  along  the  front  of  the  British  line  tow- 
ards the  rear  of  La  Haye  Sainte,  and  so  becoming  blended 
with  the  divisions  of  French  infantry  which  under  Donzelot 
had  been  assailing  the  Allies  so  formidably  in  that  quarter. 
The  sight  of  the  Old  Guard  broken  and  in  flight  checked  the 
ardor  which  Donzelot's  troops  had  hitherto  displayed.  They, 
too,  began  to  waver.  Adams's  victorious  brigade  was  pressing 
after  the  flying  Guard,  and  now  cleared  away  the  assailants  of 
the  allied  centre.  But  the  battle  was  not  yet  won.  Napoleon 
had  still  some  battalions  in  reserve  near  La  Belle  Alliance.  He 
was  rapidly  rallying  the  remains  of  the  first  column  of  his 
Guards,  and  he  had  collected  into  one  body  the  remnants  of  the 
various  corps  of  cavalry,  which  had  suffered  so  severely  in  the 
earlier  part  of  the  day.  The  duke  instantly  formed  the  bold 
resolution  of  now  himself  becoming  the  assailant  and  leading 
his  successful  though  enfeebled  army  forward  while  the  dis- 
heartening effect  of  the  repulse  of  the  Imperial  Guard  on  the 
rest  of  the  French  army  was  still  strong,  and  before  Napoleon 
and  Ney  could  rally  the  beaten  veterans  themselves  for  another 
and  a  fiercer  charge.  As  the  close  approach  of  the  Prussians 
now  completely  protected  the  duke's  left,  he  had  drawn  some 


392  BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO. 

reserves  of  horse  from  that  quarter,  and  he  had  a  brigade  of 
Hussars  under  Vivian  fresh  and  ready  at  hand.  Without  a 
moment's  hesitation  he  launched  these  against  the  cavalry  near 
La  Belle  Alliance.  The  charge  was  as  successful  as  it  was  dar- 
ing; and,  as  there  was  now  no  hostile  cavalry  to  check  the 
British  infantry  in  a  forward  movement,  the  duke  gave  the 
long-wished-for  command  for  a  general  advance  of  the  army 
along  the  whole  line  upon  the  foe.  It  was  now  past  eight 
o'clock,  and  for  nearly  nine  deadly  hours  had  the  British  and 
German  regiments  stood  unflinching  under  the  fire  of  artillery, 
the  charge  of  cavalry,  and  every  variety  of  assault  which  the 
compact  columns  or  the  scattered  tirailleurs  of  the  enemy's  in- 
fantry could  inflict.  As  they  joyously  sprang  forward  against 
the  discomfited  masses  of  the  French,  the  setting  sun  broke 
through  the  clouds  which  had  obscured  the  sky  during  the 
greater  part  of  the  day,  and  glittered  on  the  bayonets  of  the 
Allies,  while  they  poured  down  into  the  valley  and  towards  the 
heights  that  were  held  by  the  foe.  The  duke  himself  was 
among  the  foremost  in  the  advance,  and  personally  directed  the 
movements  against  each  body  of  the  French  that  essayed  re- 
sistance. He  rode  in  front  of  Adams's  brigade,  cheering  it  for- 
ward, and  even  galloped  among  the  most  advanced  of  the 
British  skirmishers,  speaking  joyously  to  the  men,  and  receiv- 
ing their  hearty  shouts  of  congratulation.  The  bullets  of  both 
friends  and  foes  were  whistling  fast  around  him ;  and  one  of 
the  few  survivors  of  his  staff  remonstrated  with  him  for  thus 
exposing  a  life  of  such  value.  "  Never  mind,"  was  the  duke's 
answer — "  never  mind,  let  them  fire  away ;  the  battle's  won, 
and  my  life  is  of  no  consequence  now."  And,  indeed,  almost 
the  whole  of  the  French  host  were  now  in  irreparable  confusion. 
The  Prussian  army  was  coming  more  and  more  rapidly  for- 
ward on  their  right;  and  the  Young  Guard,  which  had  held 
Planchenoit  so  bravely,  was  at  last  compelled  to  give  way. 
Some  regiments  of  the  Old  Guard  in  vain  endeavored  to  form 
in  squares  and  stem  the  current.  They  were  swept  away,  and 
wrecked  among  the  waves  of  the  flyers.  Napoleon  had  placed 
himself  in  one  of  these  squares :  Marshal  Soult,  Generals  Ber- 
trand,  Drouot,  Corbineau,  De  Flahaut,  and  Gourgaud,  were 
with  him.  The  emperor  spoke  of  dying  on  the  field,  but  Soult 
seized  his  bridle  and  turned  his  charger  round,  exclaiming, 
"  Sire,  are  not  the  enemy  already  lucky  enough  ?"  *    With  the 

*  Colonel  Lemonnier-Delafosae,  "  Memoires,"  p.  388.     The  colonel  states 


BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO.  393 

greatest  difficulty,  and  only  by  the  utmost  exertion  of  the  de- 
voted officers  round  him,  Napoleon  cleared  the  throng  of  fugi- 
tives, and  escaped  from  the  scene  of  the  battle  and  the  war, 
which  he  and  France  had  lost  past  all  recovery.  Meanwhile  the 
Duke  of  Wellington  still  rode  forward  with  the  van  of  his  vic- 
torious troops,  until  he  reined  up  on  the  elevated  ground  near 
Rossomme.  The  daylight  was  now  entirely  gone;  but  the 
young  moon  had  risen,  and  the  light  which  it  cast,  aided  by  the 
glare  from  the  burning  houses  and  other  buildings  in  the  line  of 
the  flying  French  and  pursuing  Prussians,  enabled  the  duke  to 
assure  himself  that  his  victory  was  complete.  He  then  rode 
back  along  the  Charleroi  road  towards  Waterloo ;  and  near  La 
Belle  Alliance  he  met  Marshal  Bliicher.  Warm  were  the  con- 
gratulations that  were  exchanged  between  the  allied  chiefs.  It 
was  arranged  that  the  Prussians  should  follow  up  the  pursuit, 
and  give  the  French  no  chance  of  rallying.  Accordingly  the 
British  army,  exhausted  by  its  toils  and  sufferings  during  that 
dreadful  day,  did  not  advance  beyond  the  heights  which  the 
enemy  had  occupied.  But  the  Prussians  drove  the  fugitives 
before  them  in  merciless  chase  throughout  the  night.  Can- 
non, baggage,  and  all  the  materiel  of  the  army  were  abandoned 
by  the  French  ;  and  many  thousands  of  the  infantry  threw  away 
their  arms  to  facilitate  their  escape.  The  ground  was  strewn 
for  miles  with  the  wrecks  of  their  host.  There  was  no  rear- 
guard ;  nor  was  even  the  semblance  of  order  attempted.  An 
attempt  at  resistance  was  made  at  the  bridge  and  village  of 
Genappe,  the  first  narrow  pass  through  which  the  bulk  of  the 
French  retired.  The  situation  was  favorable ;  and  a  few  res- 
olute battalions,  if  ably  commanded,  might  have  held  their  pur- 
suers at  bay  there  for  some  considerable  time.  But  despair  and 
panic  were  now  universal  in  the  beaten  army.  At  the  first 
sound  of  the  Prussian  drums  and  bugles,  Genappe  was  aban- 
doned, and  nothing  thought  of  but  headlong  flight.  The  Prus- 
sians, under  General  Gneisenau,  still  followed  and  still  slew ; 
nor  even  when  the  Prussian  infantry  stopped  in  sheer  exhaus- 
tion, was  the  pursuit  given  up.  Gneisenau  still  pushed  on  with 
the  cavalry ;  and  by  an  ingenious  stratagem  made  the  French 
believe  that  his  infantry  were  still  close  on  them,  and  scared 
them  from  every  spot  where  they  attempted  to  pause  and  rest. 
He  mounted  one  of  his  drummers  on  a  horse  which  had  been 

that  he  heard  these  details  from  General  Gourgaud  himself.  The  English 
reader  will  be  reminded  of  Charles  I.'a  retreat  from  Naseby. 


394  BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO. 

taken  from  the  captured  carriage  of  Napoleon,  and  made  him 
ride  along  with  the  pursuing  cavalry,  and  beat  the  drum  when- 
ever they  came  on  any  large  number  of  the  French.  The  French 
thus  fled,  and  the  Prussians  pursued  through  Quatre  Bras,  and 
even  over  the  heights  of  Frasne ;  and  when  at  length  Gneisenau 
drew  bridle,  and  halted  a  little  beyond  Frasne  with  the  scanty 
remnant  of  keen  hunters  who  had  kept  up  the  chase  with  him 
to  the  last,  the  French  were  scattered  through  Gosselies,  Mar- 
chiennes,  and  Charleroi ;  and  were  striving  to  regain  the  left 
bank  of  the  river  Sambre,  which  they  had  crossed  in  such  pomp 
and  pride  not  a  hundred  hours  before. 

Part  of  the  French  left  wing  endeavored  to  escape  from  the 
field  without  blending  with  the  main  body  of  the  fugitives  who 
thronged  the  Genappe  causeway.  A  French  officer  who  was 
among  those  who  thus  retreated  across  the  country  westward  of 
the  high-road  has  vividly  described  what  he  witnessed  and  what 
he  suffered.  Colonel  Lemonnier-Delafosse  served  in  the  cam- 
paign of  1815  in  General  Foy's  staff,  and  was  consequently  in 
that  part  of  the  French  army  at  Waterloo  which  acted  against 
Hougoumont  and  the  British  right  wing.  When  the  column  of 
the  Imperial  Guard  made  their  great  charge  at  the  end  of  the 
day,  the  troops  of  Foy's  division  advanced  in  support  of  them, 
and  Colonel  Lemonnier-Delafosse  describes  the  confident  hopes 
of  victory  and  promotion  with  which  he  marched  to  that  attack, 
and  the  fearful  carnage  and  confusion  of  the  assailants,  amid 
which  he  was  helplessly  hurried  back  by  his  flying  comrades. 
He  then  narrates  the  closing  scene  :  * 

"  Near  one  of  the  hedges  of  Hougoumont  farm,  without  even 
a  drummer  to  beat  the  rappel^  we  succeeded  in  rallying  under 
the  enemy's  fire  300  men :  they  were  nearly  all  that  remained  of 
our  splendid  division.  Thither  came  together  a  band  of  gen- 
erals. There  was  Reille,  whose  horse  had  been  shot  under  him ; 
there  were  D'Erlon,  Bachelu,  Foy,  Jamin,  and  others.  All  were 
gloomy  and  sorrowful,  like  vanquished  men.  Their  words  were, 
— '  Here  is  all  that  is  left  of  my  corps,  of  my  division,  of  my 
brigade.  I,  myself.'  We  had  seen  the  fall  of  Duhesme,  of 
Pelet-de-Morvan,  of  Michel — generals  who  had  found  a  glorious 
death.  My  general,  Foy,  had  his  shoulder  pierced  through  by 
a  musket-ball ;  and  out  of  his  whole  staff  two  officers  only  were 
left  to  him,  Cahour  Duhay  and  I.     Fate  had  spared  me  in  the 

*  Col.  Lemonnier-Delafosse,  "M6moires,"  pp.  385-405.  There  are  omis- 
sions and  abridgments  in  the  translation  which  I  have  given. 


BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO.  395 

midst  of  so  many  dangers,  though  the  first  charger  I  rode  had 
been  shot  and  had  fallen  on  me. 

"  The  enemy's  horse  were  coming  down  on  us,  and  our  little 
group  was  obliged  to  retreat.  What  had  happened  to  our  di- 
vision of  the  left  wing  had  taken  place  all  along  the  line.  The 
movement  of  the  hostile  cavalry,  which  inundated  the  whole 
plain,  had  demoralized  our  soldiers,  who,  seeing  all  regular  re- 
treat of  the  army  cut  off,  strove  each  man  to  effect  one  for  him- 
self. At  each  instant  the  road  became  more  encumbered.  In- 
fantry, cavalry,  and  ajtillery  were  pressing  along  pell-mell : 
jammed  together  like  a  solid  mass.  Figure  to  yourself  40,000 
men  struggling  and  thrusting  themselves  along  a  single  cause- 
way. We  could  not  take  that  way  without  destruction  ;  so  the 
generals  who  had  collected  together  near  the  Hougoumont 
hedge  dispersed  across  the  fields.  General  Foy  alone  remained 
with  the  300  men  whom  he  had  gleaned  from  the  field  of  bat- 
tle, and  marched  at  their  head.  Our  anxiety  was  to  withdraw 
from  the  scene  of  action  without  being  confounded  with  the 
fugitives.  Our  general  wished  to  retreat  like  a  true  soldier. 
Seeing  three  lights  in  the  southern  horizon,  like  beacons.  Gen- 
eral Foy  asked  me  what  I  thought  of  the  position  of  each.  I 
answered,  '  The  first  to  the  left  is  Genappe,  the  second  is  at 
Bois  de  Bossu,  near  the  farm  of  Quatre  Bras ;  the  third  is  at 
Gosselies.'  *  Let  us  march  on  the  second  one,  then,'  replied 
Foy, '  and  let  no  obstacle  stop  us — take  the  head  of  the  column, 
and  do  not  lose  sight  of  the  guiding  light.'  Such  was  his  or- 
der, and  I  strove  to  obey. 

"  After  all  the  agitation  and  the  incessant  din  of  a  long  day 
of  battle,  how  imposing  was  the  stillness  of  that  night !  We 
proceeded  on  our  sad  and  lonely  march.  We  were  a  prey  to 
the  most  cruel  reflections ;  we  w  ere  humiliated,  we  were  hope- 
less ;  but  not  a  word  of  complaint  was  heard.  We  walked 
silently  as  a  troop  of  mourners  and  it  might  have  been  said 
that  we  were  attending  the  funeral  of  our  country's  glory.  Sud- 
denly the  stillness  was  broken  by  a  challenge, — '  Qui  viveP 
*  France  V  '  Kellermann  !'  *  Foy  !'  '  Is  it  you,  general  ?  come 
nearer  to  us.'  At  that  moment  we  were  passing  over  a  little 
hillock,  at  the  foot  of  which  was  a  hut,  in  which  Kellermann 
and  some  of  his  officers  had  halted.  They  came  out  to  join  us. 
Foy  said  to  me,  '  Kellermann  knows  the  country :  he  has  been 
along  here  before  with  his  cavalry ;  we  had  better  follow  him. 
But  we  found  that  the  direction  which  Kellermann  chose  was 
towards  the  first   light,  towards   Genappe.     That   led   to   the 


396  BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO. 

causeway  which  our  general  rightly  wished  to  avoid.  I  went 
to  the  left  to  reconnoitre,  and  was  soon  convinced  that  such 
was  the  case.  It  was  then  that  I  was  able  to  form  a  full  idea 
of  the  disorder  of  a  routed  army.  What  a  hideous  spectacle ! 
The  mountain  torrent,  that  uproots  and  whirls  along  with  it 
every  momentary  obstacle,  is  a  feeble  image  of  that  heap  of 
men,  of  horses,  of  equipages,  rushing  one  upon  another ;  gather- 
ing before  the  least  obstacle  which  dams  up  their  way  for  a 
few  seconds,  only  to  form  a  mass  which  overthrows  everything 
in  the  path  which  it  forces  for  itself.  Woe  to  him  whose  foot- 
ing failed  him  in  that  deluge!  He  was  crushed,  trampled  to 
death !  I  returned  and  told  my  general  what  I  had  seen,  and 
he  instantly  abandoned  Kellermann,  and  resumed  his  original 
line  of  march. 

"Keeping  straight  across  the  country  over  fields  and  the 
rough  thickets,  we  at  last  arrived  at  the  Bois  de  Bossu,  where 
we  halted.  My  general  said  to  me,  '  Go  to  the  farm  of  Quatre 
Bras  and  announce  that  we  are  here.  The  emperor  or  Soult 
must  be  there.  Ask  for  orders,  and  recollect  that  I  am  waiting 
here  for  you.  The  lives  of  these  men  depend  on  your  exact- 
ness.' To  reach  the  farm  I  was  obliged  to  cross  the  high-road : 
I  was  on  horseback,  but  nevertheless  was  borne  away  by  the 
crowd  that  fled  along  the  road,  and  it  was  long  ere  I  could  ex- 
tricate myself  and  reach  the  farm-house.  General  Lobau  was 
there  with  his  staff,  resting  in  fancied  security.  They  thought 
that  their  troops  had  halted  there ;  but,  though  a  halt  had  been 
attempted,  the  men  had  soon  fled  forward,  like  their  comrades 
of  the  rest  of  the  army.  The  shots  of  the  approaching  Prus- 
sians were  now  heard  ;  and  I  believe  that  General  Lobau  was 
taken  prisoner  in  that  farm-house.  I  left  him  to  rejoin  my  gen- 
eral, which  I  did  with  difficulty.  I  found  him  alone.  His  men, 
as  they  came  near  the  current  of  flight,  were  infected  with  the 
general  panic,  and  fled  also. 

"  What  was  to  be  done  ?  Follow  that  crowd  of  runaways  ? 
General  Foy  would  not  hear  of  it.  There  were  five  of  us  still 
with  him,  all  officers.  He  had  been  wounded  at  about  five  in 
the  afternoon,  and  the  wound  had  not  been  dressed.  He  suf- 
fered severely  ;  but  his  moral  courage  was  unbroken.  *  Let  us 
keep,'  he  said,  *  a  line  parallel  to  the  high-road,  and  work  our 
way  hence  as  we  best  can.'  A  foot-track  was  before  us,  and  we 
followed  it. 

"  The  moon  shone  out  brightly,  and  revealed  the  full  wretch- 
edness of  the  tableau  which  met  our  eyes.     A  brigadier  and  four 


BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO.  397 

cavalry  soldiers,  whom  we  met  with,  formed  our  escort.  We 
marched  on ;  and,  as  the  noise  grew  more  distant,  I  thought 
that  we  were  losing  the  parallel  of  the  highway.  Finding  that 
we  had  the  moon  more  and  more  on  the  left,  I  felt  sure  of  this, 
and  mentioned  it  to  the  general.  Absorbed  in  thought,  he  made 
me  no  reply.  We  came  in  front  of  a  windmill,  and  endeavored 
to  procure  some  information  ;  but  we  could  not  gain  an  en- 
trance or  make  any  one  answer,  and  we  continued  our  nocturnal 
march.  At  last  we  entered  a  village,  but  found  every  door 
closed  against  us,  and  were  obliged  to  use  threats  in  order  to 
gain  admission  into  a  single  house.  The  poor  woman  to  whom 
it  belonged,  more  dead  than  alive,  received  us  as  if  we  had  been 
enemies.  Before  asking  where  we  were,  *  Food,  give  us  some 
food !'  was  our  cry.  Bread  and  butter  and  beer  were  brought, 
and  soon  disappeared  before  men  who  had  fasted  for  twenty- 
four  hours.  A  little  revived,  we  ask,  '  AVhere  are  we  ?  what  is 
the  name  of  this  village  ? ' — '  Vieville.' 

"  On  looking  at  the  map,  I  saw  that  in  coming  to  that  village 
we  had  leaned  too  much  to  the  right,  and  that  we  were  in  the 
direction  of  Mons.  In  order  to  reach  the  Sambre  at  the  bridge 
of  Marchiennes,  we  had  four  leagues  to  traverse  ;  and  there  was 
scarcely  time  to  march  the  distance  before  daybreak.  I  made  a 
villager  act  as  our  guide,  and  bound  him  by  his  arm  to  my  stir- 
rup. He  led  us  through  Roux  to  Marchiennes.  The  poor  fel- 
low ran  alongside  of  my  horse  the  whole  way.  It  was  cruel,  but 
necessary  to  compel  him,  for  we  had  not  an  instant  to  spare. 
At  six  in  the  morning  we  entered  Marchiennes. 

"  Marshal  Ney  was  there.  Our  general  went  to  see  him,  and 
to  ask  what  orders  he  had  to  give.  Ney  was  asleep  ;  and,  rather 
than  rob  him  of  the  first  repose  he  had  had  for  four  days,  our  gen- 
eral returned  to  us  without  seeing  him.  And,  indeed,  what  or- 
ders could  Marshal  Ney  have  given?  The  whole  army  was 
crossing  the  Sambre,  each  man  where  and  how  he  chose ;  some 
at  Charleroi,  some  at  Marchiennes.  We  were  about  to  do  the 
same  thing.  When  once  beyond  the  Sambre,  we  might  safely 
halt ;  and  both  men  and  horses  were  in  extreme  need  of  rest. 
We  passed  through  Thuin ;  and  finding  a  little  copse  near  the 
road,  we  gladly  sought  its  shelter.  While  our  horses  grazed,  we 
lay  down  and  slept.  How  sweet  was  that  sleep  after  the  fa- 
tigues of  the  long  day  of  battle,  and  after  the  night  of  retreat 
more  painful  still !  We  rested  in  the  little  copse  till  noon,  and 
sat  there  watching  the  wrecks  of  our  army  defile  along  the  road 
before  us.     It  was  a  soul-harrowing  sight !     Yet  the  different 


398  BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO. 

arms  of  the  service  had  resumed  a  certain  degree  of  order  amid 
their  disorder ;  and  our  general,  feeling  his  strength  revive,  re- 
solved to  follow  a  strong  column  of  cavalry  which  was  taking 
the  direction  of  Beaumont,  about  four  leagues  off.  We  drew 
near  Beaumont,  when  suddenly  a  regiment  of  horse  was  seen  de- 
bouching from  a  wood  on  our  left.  The  column  that  we  fol- 
lowed shouted  out,  '  The  Prussians !  the  Prussians !'  and  gal- 
loped off  in  utter  disorder.  The  troops  that  thus  alarmed  them 
were  not  a  tenth  part  of  their  number,  and  were  in  reality  our  own 
8th  Hussars,  who  wore  green  uniforms.  But  the  panic  had  been 
brought  even  thus  far  from  the  battle-field,  and  the  disorganized 
column  galloped  into  Beaumont,  which  was  already  crowded 
with  our  infantry.  We  were  obliged  to  follow  that  debacle. 
On  entering  Beaumont  we  chose  a  house  of  superior  appearance, 
and  demanded  of  the  mistress  of  it  refreshments  for  the  general. 
'  Alas !'  said  the  lady,  *  this  is  the  tenth  general  who  has  been 
to  this  house  since  this  morning.  I  have  nothing  left.  Search, 
if  you  please,  and  see.'  Though  unable  to  find  food  for  the 
general,  I  persuaded  him  to  take  his  coat  off  and  let  me  examine 
his  wound.  The  bullet  had  gone  through  the  twists  of  the  left 
epaulette,  and,  penetrating  the  skin,  had  run  round  the  shoulder 
without  injuring  the  bone.  The  lady  of  the  house  made  some 
lint  for  me  ;  and  without  any  great  degree  of  surgical  skill  I  suc- 
ceeded in  dressing  the  wound. 

"  Being  still  anxious  to  procure  some  food  for  the  general  and 
ourselves,  if  it  were  but  a  loaf  of  ammunition  bread,  I  left  the 
house  and  rode  out  into  the  town.  I  saw  pillage  going  on  in 
every  direction:  open  caissons,  stripped  and  half -broken, 
blocked  up  the  streets.  The  pavement  was  covered  with  plun- 
dered and  torn  baggage.  Pillagers  and  runaways,  such  were  all 
the  comrades  I  met  with.  Disgusted  at  them,  I  strove,  sword 
in  hand,  to  stop  one  of  the  plunderers ;  but,  more  active  than  I, 
he  gave  me  a  bayonet  stab  in  my  left  arm,  in  which  I  fortunately 
caught  his  thrust,  which  had  been  aimed  full  at  my  body.  He 
disappeared  among  the  crowd,  through  which  I  could  not  force 
my  horse.  My  spirit  of  discipline  had  made  me  forget  that  in 
such  circumstances  the  soldier  is  a  mere  wild  beast.  But  to  be 
wounded  by  a  fellow-countryman  after  having  passed  unharmed 
through  all  the  perils  of  Quatre  Bras  and  Waterloo ! — this  did 
seem  hard,  indeed.  I  was  trying  to  return  to  General  Foy,  when 
another  horde  of  flyers  burst  into  Beaumont,  swept  me  into  the 
current  of  their  flight,  and  hurried  me  out  of  the  town  with 
them.     Until  I  received  my  wound  I  had  preserved  my  moral 


BATTLE  OF   WATERLOO.  399 

courage  in  full  force ;  but  now,  worn  out  with  fatigue,  covered 
with  blood,  and  suffering  severe  pain  from  the  wound,  I  own 
that  I  gave  way  to  the  general  demoralization,  and  let  myself  be 
inertly  borne  along  with  the  rushing  mass.  At  last  I  reached 
Landrecies,  though  I  know  not  how  or  when.  But  I  found  there 
our  Colonel  Hurday,  who  had  been  left  behind  there  in  conse- 
quence of  an  accidental  injury  from  a  carriage.  He  took  me 
with  him  to  Paris,  where  I  retired  amid  my  family,  and  got 
cured  of  my  wound,  knowing  nothing  of  the  rest  of  political  and 
military  events  that  were  taking  place." 

No  returns  ever  were  made  of  the  amount  of  the  French  loss 
in  the  battle  of  Waterloo ;  but  it  must  have  been  immense,  and 
may  be  partially  judged  of  by  the  amount  of  killed  and  wounded 
in  the  armies  of  the  conquerors.  On  this  subject  both  the  Prus- 
sian and  British  official  evidence  is  unquestionably  full  and  au- 
thentic.    The  figures  are  terribly  emphatic. 

Of  the  army  that  fought  under  the  Duke  of  Wellington  nearly 
15,000  men  were  killed  and  wounded  on  this  single  day  of  bat- 
tle. Seven  thousand  Prussians  also  fell  at  Waterloo.  At  such 
a  fearful  price  was  the  deliverance  of  Europe  purchased. 

By  none  was  the  severity  of  that  loss  more  keenly  felt  than  by 
our  great  deliverer  himself.  As  may  be  seen  in  Major  Macrea- 
dy's  narrative,  the  duke,  while  the  battle  was  raging,  betrayed 
no  sign  of  emotion  at  the  most  ghastly  casualties ;  but,  when  all 
was  over,  the  sight  of  the  carnage  with  which  the  field  was 
covered,  and,  still  more,  the  sickening  spectacle  of  the  agonies 
of  the  wounded  men  who  lay  moaning  in  their  misery  by  thou- 
sands and  tens  of  thousands,  weighed  heavily  on  the  spirit  of  the 
victor,  as  he  rode  back  across  the  scene  of  strife.  On  reaching 
his  headquarters  in  the  village  of  Waterloo,  the  duke  inquired 
anxiously  after  the  numerous  friends  who  had  been  round  him 
in  the  morning,  and  to  whom  he  was  warmly  attached.  Many, 
he  was  told,  were  dead ;  others  were  lying  alive,  but  mangled 
and  suffering,  in  the  houses  round  him.  It  is  in  our  hero's  own 
words  alone  that  his  feelings  can  be  adequately  told.  In  a  let- 
ter written  by  him  almost  immediately  after  his  return  from  the 
field,  he  thus  expressed  himself:  "My  heart  is  broken  by  the 
terrible  loss  I  have  sustained  in  my  old  friends  and  companions 
and  my  poor  soldiers.  Believe  me,  nothing  except  a  battle  lost 
can  be  half  so  melancholy  as  a  battle  won.  The  bravery  of  my 
troops  has  hitherto  saved  me  from  the  greater  evil ;  but  to  win 
such  a  battle  as  this  of  Waterloo,  at  the  expense  of  so  many 
gallant  friends,  could  only  be  termed  a  heavy  misfortune  but  for 
the  result  to  the  public." 


400  BATTLE  OF   WATERLOO. 

It  is  not  often  that  a  successful  general  in  modern  warfare  is 
called  on,  like  the  victorious  commander  of  the  ancient  Greek 
armies,  to  award  a  prize  of  superior  valor  to  one  of  his  soldiers. 
Such  was  to  some  extent  the  case  with  respect  to  the  battle  of 
Waterloo.  In  the  August  of  1818,  an  English  clergyman  offered 
to  confer  a  small  annuity  on  some  Waterloo  soldier,  to  be  named 
by  the  duke.*  The  duke  requested  Sir  John  Byng  to  choose  a 
man  from  the  2d  Brigade  of  Guards,  which  had  so  highly  dis- 
tinguished itself  in  the  defence  of  Hougoumont.  There  were 
many  gallant  candidates,  but  the  election  fell  on  Sergeant  James 
Graham,  of  the  light  company  of  the  Coldstreams.  This  brave 
man  had  signalized  himself  throughout  the  day  in  the  defence  of 
that  important  post,  and  especially  in  the  critical  struggle  that 
took  place  at  the  period  when  the  French,  who  had  gained  the 
wood,  the  orchard,  and  detached  garden,  succeeded  in  bursting 
open  a  gate  of  the  court-yard  of  the  chateau  itself,  and  rushed 
in  in  large  masses,  confident  of  carrying  all  before  them.  A 
hand-to-hand  fight,  of  the  most  desperate  character,  was  kept  up 
between  them  and  the  Guards  for  a  few  minutes ;  but  at  last  the 
British  bayonets  prevailed.  Nearly  all  the  Frenchmen  who  had 
forced  their  way  in  were  killed  on  the  spot ;  and,  as  the  few  sur- 
vivors ran  back,  five  of  the  Guards,  Colonel  Macdonnell,  Captain 
Wyndham,  Ensign  Gooch,  Ensign  Hervey,  and  Sergeant  Graham, 
by  sheer  strength,  closed  the  gate  again,  in  spite  of  the  efforts 
of  the  French  from  without,  and  effectually  barricaded  it  against 
further  assaults.  Over  and  through  the  loopholed  wall  of  the 
court-yard  the  English  garrison  now  kept  up  a  deadly  fire  of 
musketry,  which  was  fiercely  answered  by  the  French,  who 
swarmed  round  the  curtilage  like  ravening  wolves.  Shells,  too, 
from  their  batteries  were  falling  fast  into  the  besieged  place, 
one  of  which  set  part  of  the  mansion  and  some  of  the  outbuild- 
ings on  fire.  Graham,  who  was  at  this  time  standing  near 
Colonel  Macdonnell  at  the  wall,  and  who  had  shown  the  most 
perfect  steadiness  and  courage,  now  asked  permission  of  his 
commanding  officer  to  retire  for  a  moment.  Macdonnell  replied, 
"  By  all  means,  Graham ;  but  I  wonder  you  should  ask  leave 
now."  Graham  answered,  "  I  would  not,  sir,  only  my  brother 
is  wounded,  and  he  is  in  that  outbuilding  there,  which  has  just 
caught  fire."  Laying  down  his  musket,  Graham  ran  to  the  blaz- 
ing spot,  lifted  up  his  brother,  and  laid  him  in  a  ditch.  Then 
he  was  back  at  his  post,  and  was  plying  his  musket  against 

*  Siborne,  vol.  i.,  p.  891. 


BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO.  401 

the  French  again  before  his  absence  was  noticed,  except  by  his 
colonel. 

Many  anecdotes  of  individual  prowess  have  been  preserved; 
but  of  all  the  brave  men  who  were  in  the  British  army  on  that 
eventful  day,  none  deserve  more  honor  for  courage  and  indomi- 
table resolution  than  Sir  Thomas  Picton,  who,  as  has  been  men- 
tioned, fell  in  repulsing  the  great  attack  of  the  French  upon  the 
British  left  centre.  It  was  not  until  the  dead  body  was  exam- 
ined after  the  battle  that  the  full  heroism  of  Picton  was  dis- 
cerned. He  had  been  wounded  on  the  1 6th,  at  Quatre  Bras,  by 
a  musket-ball,  which  had  broken  two  of  his  ribs,  and  caused  also 
severe  internal  injuries  ;  but  he  had  concealed  the  circumstance, 
evidently  in  expectation  that  another  and  greater  battle  would  be 
fought  in  a  short  time,  and  desirous  to  avoid  being  solicited  to 
absent  himself  from  the  field.  His  body  was  blackened  and 
swollen  by  the  wound,  which  must  have  caused  severe  and  in- 
cessant pain ;  and  it  was  marvellous  how  his  spirit  had  borne 
him  up,  and  enabled  him  to  take  part  in  the  fatigues  and  duties 
of  the  field.  The  bullet  which,  on  the  18th,  killed  the  renowned 
leader  of  "  the  fighting  division  "  of  the  Peninsula  entered  the 
head  near  the  left  temple,  and  passed  through  the  brain  ;  so  that 
Picton's  death  must  have  been  instantaneous. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  narratives  of  personal  a*dventure 
at  Waterloo  is  that  of  Colonel  Frederick  Ponsonby,  of  the  12th 
Light  Dragoons,  who  was  severely  wounded  when  Vandeleur's 
brigade,  to  which  he  belonged,  attacked  the  French  lancers,  in 
order  to  bring  off  the  Union  Brigade,  which  was  retiring  from  its 
memorable  charge.*  The  12th,  like  those  whom  they  rescued, 
advanced  much  farther  against  the  French  position  than  pru- 
dence warranted.  Poijsonby,  with  many  others,  was  speared  by 
a  reserve  of  Polish  lancers,  and  left  for  dead  on  the  field.  It  is 
well  to  refer  to  the  description  of  what  he  suffered  (as  he  after- 
wards gave  it,  when  almost  miraculously  recovered  from  his 
numerous  wounds),  because  his  fate,  or  worse,  was  the  fate  of 
thousands  more ;  and  because  the  narrative  of  the  pangs  of  an 
individual,  with  whom  w^e  can  indentify  ourselves,  always  comes 
more  home  to  us  than  a  general  description  of  the  miseries  of 
whole  masses.  His  tale  may  make  us  remember  what  are  the 
horrors  of  war  as  well  as  its  glories.  It  is  to  be  remembered 
that  the  operations  which  he  refers  to  took  place  about  three 
o'clock  in  the  day,  and  that  the  fighting  went  on  for  at  least  five 

*  See  p.  378,  supra. 


402  BATTLE  OF  WATEkLOO. 

hours  more.  After  describing  how  he  and  his  men  charged 
through  the  French  whom  they  first  encountered,  and  went 
against  other  enemies,  he  states : 

"  We  had  no  sooner  passed  them  than  we  were  ourselves  at- 
tacked, before  we  could  form,  by  about  300  Polish  lancers,  who 
had  hastened  to  their  relief;  the  French  artillery  pouring  in 
among  us  a  heavy  fire  of  grape,  though  for  one  of  our  men  they 
killed  three  of  their  own. 

"  In  the  mUee  I  was  almost  instantly  disabled  in  both  arms, 
losing  first  my  sword,  and  then  my  reins,  aiMl  followed  by  a  few 
men,  who  were  presently  cut  down,  no  quarter  being  allowed, 
asked,  or  given,  I  was  carried  along  by  my  horse,  till,  receiving 
a  blow  from  a  sabre,  I  fell  senseless  on  my  face  to  the  ground. 

"  Recovering,  I  raised  myself  a  little  to  look  round,  being  at 
that  time,  I  believe,  in  a  condition  to  get  up  and  run  away; 
when  a  lancer,  passing  by,  cried  out, '  Tu  n'est  pas  mort,  coquin  !' 
and  struck  his  lance  through  my  back.  My  head  dropped,  the 
blood  gushed  into  my  mouth,  a  difficulty  of  breathing  can>e  on, 
and  I  thought  all  was  over. 

"  Not  long  afterwards  (it  was  impossible  to  measure  time,  but 
I  must  have  fallen  in  less  than  ten  minutes  after  the  onset),  a 
tirailleur  stopped  to  plunder  me,  threatening  my  life.  I  direct- 
ed him  to  a  small  side-pocket,  in  which  he  found  three  dollars,  all 
I  had ;  but  he  continued  to  threaten,  and  I  said  he  might  search 
me :  this  he  did  immediately,  unloosing  my  stock  and  tearing 
open  my  waistcoat,  and  leaving  me  in  a  very  uneasy  posture. 

"  But  he  was  no  sooner  gone  than  an  officer  bringing  up  some 
troops,  to  which  probably  the  tirailleur  belonged,  and  happening 
to  halt  where  I  lay,  stooped  down  and  addressed  me,  saying  he 
feared  I  was  badly  wounded  ;  I  said  that  I  was,  and  expressed  a 
wish  to  be  removed  to  the  rear.  He  said  it  was  against  their 
orders  to  remove  even  their  own  men ;  but  that  if  they  gained 
the  day  (and  he  understood  that  the  Duke  of  Wellington  was 
killed,  and  that  some  of  our  battalions  had  surrendered),  every 
attention  in  his  power  would  be  shown  me.  I  complained  of 
thirst,  and  he  held  his  brandy-bottle  to  my  lips,  directing  one  of 
the  soldiers  to  lay  me  straight  on  my  side,  and  place  a  knapsack 
under  my  head.  He  then  passed  on  into  action — soon,  perhaps, 
to  want,  though  not  receive,  the  same  assistance ;  and  I  shall 
never  know  to  whose  generosity  I  was  indebted,  as  I  believe,  for 
my  life.  Of  what  rank  he  was,  I  cannot  say  :  he  wore  a  great- 
coat. By  and  by  another  tirailleur  came  up,  a  fine  young  man, 
full  of  ardor^     He  knelt  down  and  fired  over  rae,  loading  and 


BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO.  403 

firing  many  times,  and  conversing  with  me  all  the  while."  The 
Frenchman,  with  strange  coolness,  informed  Ponsonby  of  how 
he  was  shooting,  and  what  he  thought  of  the  progress  of  the 
battle.  "  At  last  he  ran  off,  exclaiming,  '  You  will  probably  not 
be  sorry  to  hear  that  we  are  going  to  retreat.  Good-day,  my 
friend.'  It  was  dusk,"  Ponsonby  adds,  "  when  two  squadrons 
of  Prussian  cavalry,  each  of  them  two  deep,  came  across  the 
valley,  and  passed  over  me  in  full  trot,  lifting  me  from  the 
ground,  and  tumbling  me  about  cruelly.  The  clatter  of  their 
approach,  and  the  apprehensions  they  excited,  may  be  imagined  ; 
a  gun  taking  that  direction  must  have  destroyed  me. 

"The  battle  was  now  at  an  end,  or  removed  to  a  distance. 
The  shouts,  the  imprecations,  the  outcries  of  '  Vive  I'Empereur !' 
the  discharge  of  musketry  and  cannon,  were  over;  and  the 
groans  of  the  wounded  all  around  me  became  every  moment 
more  and  more  audible.     I  thought  the  night  would  never  end. 

"  Much  about  this  time  I  found  a  soldier  of  the  Royals  lying 
across  my  legs — he  had  probably  crawled  thither  in  his  agony  ; 
and  his  weight,  his  convulsive  motions,  and  the  air  issuing 
through  a  wound  in  his  side,  distressed  me  greatly  ;  the  last  cir- 
cumstance most  of  all,  as  I  had  a  wound  of  the  same  nature  my- 
self. 

"  It  was  not  a  dark  night,  and  the  Prussians  were  wandering 
about  to  plunder ;  the  scene  in  '  Ferdinand  Count  Fathom '  came 
into  my  mind,  though  no  women  appeared.  Several  stragglers 
looked  at  me,  as  they  passed  by,  one  after  another,  and  at  last 
one  of  them  stopped  to  examine  me.  I  told  him  as  well  as  I 
could,  for  I  spoke  German  very  imperfectly,  that  I  was  a  British 
officer,  and  had  been  plundered  already  ;  he  did  not  desist,  how- 
ever, and  pulled  me  about  roughly. 

"  An  hour  before  midnight  I  saw  a  man  in  an  English  uniform 
walking  towards  me.  He  was,  I  suspect,  on  the  same  errand, 
and  he  came  and  looked  in  my  face.  I  spoke  instantly,  telling 
him  who  I  was,  and  assuring  him  of  a  reward  if  he  would  re- 
main by  me.  He  said  he  belonged  to  the  40th,  and  had  missed 
his  regiment ;  he  released  me  from  the  dying  soldier,  and,  being 
unarmed,  took  up  a  sword  from  the  ground,  and  stood  over  me, 
pacing  backward  and  forward. 

"  Day  broke  ;  and  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  some  English 
were  seen  at  a  distance,  and  he  ran  to  them.  A  messenger  be- 
ing sent  off  to  Hervey,  a  cart  came  for  me,  and  I  was  placed  in 
it,  and  carried  to  the  village  of  Waterloo,  a  mile  and  a  half  off, 
and  laid  in  the  bed  from  which,  as  I  understood  afterwards, 


404  BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO. 

Gordon  had  been  just  carried  out.  I  had  received  seven 
wounds ;  a  surgeon  slept  in  my  room,  and  I  was  saved  by  ex- 
cessive bleeding." 

Major  Macready,  in  the  journal  already  cited,*  justly  praises 
the  deep  devotion  to  their  emperor  which  marked  the  French  at 
Waterloo.  Never,  indeed,  had  the  national  bravery  of  the 
French  people  been  more  nobly  shown.  One  soldier  in  the 
French  ranks  was  seen,  when  his  arm  was  shattered  by  a  can- 
non-ball, to  wrench  it  off  with  the  other ;  and,  throwing  it  up  in 
the  air,  he  exclaimed  to  his  comrades,  "  Vive  I'Empereur  jusqu'a 
la  mort !"  Colonel  Lemonnier-Delafosse  mentions  in  his  "  Me- 
moires"f  that,  at  the  beginning  of  the  action,  a  French  soldier  who 
had  had  both  legs  carried  off  by  a  cannon-ball  was  borne  past 
the  front  of  Foy's  division,  and  called  out  to  them,  "Ce  n'est 
rien,  camarades  !  Vive  I'Empereur  !  Gloire  a  la  France !"  The 
same  officer,  at  the  end  of  the  battle,  when  all  hope  was  lost, 
tells  us  that  he  saw  a  French  grenadier,  blackened  with  powder, 
and  with  his  clothes  torn  and  stained,  leaning  on  his  musket, 
and  immovable  as  a  statue.  The  colonel  called  to  him  to  join 
his  comrades  and  retreat ;  but  the  grenadier  showed  him  his 
musket  and  his  hands ;  and  said,  "  These  hands  have  with  this 
musket  used  to-day  more  than  twenty  packets  of  cartridges :  it 
was  more  than  my  share.  I  supplied  myself  with  ammunition 
from  the  dead.  Leave  me  to  die  here  on  the  field  of  battle.  It 
is  not  courage  that  fails  me,  but  strength."  Th«en,  as  Colonel 
Delafosse  left  him,  the  soldier  stretched  himseff  on  the  ground 
to  meet  his  fate,  exclaiming,  "  Tout  est  perdu  !  pauvre  France  !" 
The  gallantry  of  the  French  officers  at  least  equalled  that  of  their 
men.  Ney,  in  particular,  set  the  example  of  the  most  daring 
courage.  Here,  as  in  every  French  array  in  which  he  ever 
served  or  commanded,  he  was  "  le  brave  des  braves."  Through- 
out the  day  he  was  in  the  front  of  the  battle ;  and  was  one  of 
the  very  last  Frenchmen  who  quitted  the  field.  His  horse  was 
killed  under  him  in  the  last  attack  made  on  the  English  posi- 
tion ;  but  he  was  seen  on  foot,  his  clothes  torn  with  bullets,  his 
face  smirched  with  powder,  striving,  sword  in  hand,  first  to  urge 
his  men  forward,  and  at  last  to  check  their  flight. 

There  was  another  brave  general  of  the  French  army,  whose 
valor  and  good  conduct  on  that  day  of  disaster  to  his  nation 
should  never  be  unnoticed,  when  the  story  of  Waterloo  is  re- 
counted.   This  was  General  Pelet,  who,  about  seven  in  the  even- 

*  See  mpra,  p.  383.  f  Page  388. 


BATTLE   OF  WATERLOO.  405 

ing,  led  the  first  battalion  of  the  2d  regiment  of  the  Chasseurs 
of  the  Guard  to  the  defence  of  Planchenoit,  and  on  whom 
Napoleon  personally  urged  the  deep  importance  of  maintaining 
possession  of  that  village.  Pelet  and  his  men  took  their  post  in 
the  central  part  of  the  village,  and  occupied  the  church  and 
churchyard  in  great  strength.  There  they  repelled  every  assault 
of  the  Prussians,  who  in  rapidly  increasing  numbers  rushed  for- 
ward with  infuriated  pertinacity.  They  held  their  post  till  the 
utter  rout  of  the  main  army  of  their  comrades  was  apparent,  and 
the  victorious  Allies  were  thronging  around  Planchenoit.  Then 
Pelet  and  his  brave  chasseurs  quitted  the  churchyard,  and  retired 
with  steady  march,  though  they  suffered  fearfully  from  the  mo- 
ment they  left  their  shelter,  and  Prussian  cavalry  as  well  as  in- 
fantry dashed  fiercely  after  them.  Pelet  kept  together  a  little 
knot  of  250  veterans,  and  had  the  eagle  covered  over,  and  borne 
along  in  the  midst  of  them.  At  one  time  the  inequality  of  the 
ground  caused  his  ranks  to  open  a  little ;  and  in  an  instant  the 
Prussian  horsemen  were  on  them,  and  striving  to  capture  the 
eagle.  Captain  Siborne  relates  the  conduct  of  Pelet  with  the 
admiration  worthy  of  one  brave  soldier  for  another : 

"  Pelet,  taking  advantage  of  a  spot  of  ground  which  afforded 
them  some  degree  of  cover  against  the  fire  of  grape  by  which 
they  were  constantly  assailed,  halted  the  standard-bearer,  and 
called  out, '  A  moi,  chasseurs  !  Sauvons  I'aigle,  ou  mourons  autour 
d'elle !'  The  chasseurs  immediately  pressed  around  him,  form- 
ing what  is  usually  termed  the  rallying  square,  and,  lowering 
their  bayonets,  succeeded  in  repulsing  the  charge  of  cavalry. 
Some  guns  were  then  brought  to  bear  upon  them,  and  subse- 
quently a  brisk  fire  of  musketry ;  but  notwithstanding  the 
awful  sacrifice  which  was  thus  offered  up  in  defence  of  their 
precious  charge,  they  succeeded  in  reaching  the  main  line  of 
retreat,  favored  by  the  universal  confusion,  as  also  by  the  general 
obscurity  which  now  prevailed ;  and  thus  saved  alike  the  eagle 
and  the  honor  of  the  regiment." 

French  writers  do  injustice  to  their  own  army  and  general 
when  they  revive  malignant  calumnies  against  Wellington,  and 
speak  of  his  having  blundered  into  victory.  No  blunderer  could 
have  successfully  encountered  such  troops  as  those  of  Napoleon, 
and  under  such  a  leader.  It  is  superfluous  to  cite  against  these 
cavils  the  testimony  which  other  Continental  critics  have  borne 
to  the  high  military  genius  of  our  illustrious  chief.  I  refer  to 
one  only,  which  is  of  peculiar  value,  on  account  of  the  quarter 
whence  it  comes.    It  is  that  of  the  great  German  writer  Niebuhr, 


406  BATTLE   OF  WATERLOO. 

whose  accurate  acquaintance  with  every  important  scene  of  mod- 
ern as  well  as  ancient  history  was  unparalleled,  and  who  was  no 
mere  pedant,  but  a  man  practically  versed  in  active  life,  and  had 
been  personally  acquainted  with  most  of  the  leading  men  in 
the  great  events  of  the  early  part  of  this  century.  Niebuhr,  in 
the  passage  which  I  allude  to,*  after  referring  to  the  military 
"blunders"  of  Mithridates,  Frederick  the  Great,  Napoleon, 
Pyrrhus,  and  Hannibal,  uses  these  remarkable  words :  "  The 
Duke  of  Wellington  is,  I  believe,  the  only  general  in  whose 
conduct  of  war  we  cannot  discover  any  important  mistake." 
Not  that  it  is  to  be  supposed  that  the  duke's  merits  were  simply 
of  a  negative  order,  or  that  he  was  merely  a  cautious,  phlegmatic 
general,  fit  only  for  defensive  warfare,  as  some  recent  French 
historians  have  described  him.  On  the  contrary,  he  was  bold 
even  to  audacity  when  boldness  was  required.  "  The  intrepid 
advance  and  fight  at  Assaye,  the  crossing  of  the  Douro,  and  the 
movement  on  Talavera  in  1809,  the  advance  to  Madrid  and 
Burgos  in  1812,  the  actions  before  Bayonne  in  1813,  and  the 
desperate  stand  made  at  Waterloo  itself,  when  more  tamely 
prudent  generals  would  have  retreated  beyond  Brussels,  place 
this  beyond  a  doubt."  f 

The  overthrow  of  the  French  military  power  at  Waterloo  was 
so  complete  that  the  subsequent  events  of  the  brief  campaign 
have  little  interest.  Lamartine  truly  says:  "This  defeat  left 
nothing  undecided  in  future  events,  for  victory  had  given  judg- 
ment. The  war  began  and  ended  in  a  single  battle."  Napoleon 
himself  recognized  instantly  and  fully  the  deadly  nature  of  the 
blow  which  had  been  dealt  to  his  empire.  In  his  flight  from  the 
battle-field  he  first  halted  at  Charleroi,  but  the  approach  of  the 
pursuing  Prussians  drove  him  thence  before  he  had  rested  there 
an  hour.  With  diflSculty  getting  clear  of  the  wrecks  of  his  own 
army,  he  reached  Philippeville,  where  he  remained  a  few  hours, 
and  sent  orders  to  the  French  generals  in  the  various  extremities 
of  France  to  converge  with  their  troops  upon  Paris.  He  ordered 
Soult  to  collect  the  fugitives  of  his  own  force,  and  lead  them  to 
Laon.  He  then  hurried  forward  to  Paris,  and  reached  his  capital 
before  the  news  of  his  own  defeat.  But  the  stern  truth  soon 
transpired.  At  the  demand  of  the  Chambers  of  Peers  and  Rep- 
resentatives, he  abandoned  the  throne  by  a  second  and  final  ab- 

*♦' Roman  History,"  vol.  v.,  p/  17. 

f  See  the  admirable  parallel  of  Wellington  and  Marlborough  at  the  end  of 
Sir  Archibald  Alison's  "  Life  of  the  Duke  of  Marlborough."  Sir  Archibald 
justly  considers  WelliDgtou  the  more  daring  general  of  the  two. 


BATTLE  OF   WATERLOO.  407 

dication  on  the  22d  of  June.  On  the  29th  of  June  he  left  the 
neighborhood  of  Paris,  and  proceeded  to  Rochefort  in  the  hope 
of  escaping  to  America;  but  the  coast  was  strictly  watched,  and 
on  the  15th  of  July  the  ex-emperor  surrendered  himself  on  board 
of  the  English  man-of-war  Bellerophon. 

Meanwhile  the  allied  armies  had  advanced  steadily  upon  Paris, 
driving  before  them  Grouchy's  corps,  and  the  scanty  force  which 
Soult  had  succeeded  in  rallying  at  Laon.  Cambray,  Peronne, 
and  other  fortresses  were  speedily  captured  ;  and  by  the  29th  of 
June  the  invaders  were  taking  their  positions  in  front  of  Paris. 
The  Provisional  Government,  which  acted  in  the  French  capital 
after  the  emperor's  abdication,  opened  negotiations  with  the 
allied  chiefs.  Bliicher,  in  his  quenchless  hatred  of  the  French, 
was  eager  to  reject  all  proposals  for  a  suspension  of  hostilities, 
and  to  assault  and  storm  the  city.  But  the  sager  and  calmer 
spirit  of  Wellington  prevailed  over  his  colleague ;  the  entreated 
armistice  was  granted ;  and  on  the  3d  of  July  the  capitulation 
of  Paris  terminated  the  AYar  of  the  Battle  of  Waterloo. 


In  closing  our  observations  on  this  the  last  of  the  Decisive 
Battles  of  the  World,  it  is  pleasing  to  contrast  the  year  which  it 
signalized  with  the  year  that  is  now*  passing  over  our  heads. 
We  have  not  (and  long  may  we  be  without!)  the  stern  excitement 
of  martial  strife,  and  we  see  no  captive  standards  of  our  Euro- 
pean neighbors  brought  in  triumph  to  our  shrines.  But  we  be- 
hold an  infinitely  prouder  spectacle.  We  see  the  banners  of 
every  civilized  nation  waving  over  the  arena  of  our  competition 
with  each  other,  in  the  arts  that  minister  to  our  race's  support 
and  happiness,  and  not  to  its  suffering  and  destruction. 

"  Peace  hath  her  victories 
^  No  less  renowned  tlian  war ;" 

and  no  battle-field  ever  witnessed  a  victory  more  noble  than  that 
which  England,  under  her  sovereign  lady  and  her  royal  prince, 
is  now  teaching  the  peoples  of  the  earth  to  achieve  over  selfish 
prejudices  and  international  feuds,  in  the  great  cause  of  the  general 
promotion  of  the  industry  and  welfare  of  mankind. 

*  Written  in  June,  1861. 


PART    II 

QUEBEC— YORKTOWN— VICKSBURG— 

GETTYSBURG— SEDAN— MANILA  BAY—SANTIAGO— 

TSU-SHIMA  (The  Sea  of  Japan). 


SYNOPSIS  OF  EVENTS  CONNECTED  WITH  THE  STRUGGLE  BE- 
TWEEN THE  FRENCH  AND  ENGLISH  IN  NORTH  AMERICA* 

A.D.  1534.  Cartier^s  first  voyage  to  the  St.  Lawrence. 

1535-36  and  1541-43.  Cartier  explores  the  St.  Lawrence  to 
Montreal. 

1605.  Founding  of  Port  Royal  in  Acadia  by  the  French. 

1608.  Founding  of  Quebec  by  Champlain. 

1673.  Discovery  of  the  Mississippi  b)'-  Marquette. 

1682.  La  Salle  descends  the  Mississippi  and  claims  the  Valley 
for  France. 

1689.  King  William's  War  in  America  begins.  Formation,  at 
Vienna,  of  the  Grand  Alliance  against  the  French. 

1690.  The  French,  under  Tourville,  defeat  the  English  fleet  off 
Beachy  Head,  England.  Destruction  of  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  by 
the  French  and  Indians.  Sir  William  Phips,  commanding  New 
England  expedition,  captures  Port  Royal,  and  later  makes  a  fruit- 
less demonstration  against  Quebec. 

1692.  The  French  fleet,  under  Tourville,  is  destroyed  by  the 
Enghsh  and  Dutch  off  La  Hogue,  France.  Marshal  Luxembourg 
defeats  William  III.,  of  England,  at  Steenkerk,  Belgium. 

1693.  The  French  defeat  the  EngHsh  fleet  off  Cape  St.  Vincent, 
Portugal.  Victory  of  Marshal  Luxembourg  over  the  English  at 
Neerwinden,  Belgium. 

1697.  France  makes  peace,  at  Ryswick,  with  Holland,  Spain, 
and  England. 

1699.  The  French  begin  the  settlement  of  Louisiana. 

1701.  Beginning  of  the  War  of  the  Spanish  Succession. 

1702.  Successful  campaign  of  the  English  general  Marlborough 
in  the  Netherlands.  Naval  triumph  of  the  English  and  Dutch 
over  the  Spaniards  and  French  at  Vigo,  Spain.  Outbreak  of 
Queen  Anne's  War  in  America. 

1704.  Capture  of  Gibraltar  by  the  English.     The  English  defeat 
the  French  at  Blenheim.      Massacre  of  Deerfield,  Massachusetts. 
1706.  Victory  of  Marlborough  over  the  French  at  Ramillies. 

*  See  also  Synopsis  of  Events,  pp.  295,  297, 


410  SYNOPSIS. 

1708.  Victory  of  Marlborough  and  Prince  Eugene  at  Oudenarde. 

1709.  Victory  of  Marlborough  and  Prince  Eugene  at  Mal- 
plaquet. 

1712.  Armistice  between  France  and  England. 

1713.  The  Treaty  of  Utrecht  terminates  the  War  of  the  Spanish 
Succession.  Acadia  (Nova  Scotia  and  much  of  New  Brunswick) 
ceded  to  England  by  France.  The  Hudson  Bay  region  also  re- 
stored to  England. 

1715.  Jacobite  rebellion  in  Scotland. 

1717.  Triple  Alliance  between  France,  Great  Britain,  and 
Holland. 

1718.  Quadruple  Alliance  between  Great  Britain,  France, 
Austria,  and  Holland  against  Spain.  French  settlement  at  New 
Orleans. 

1740.  Outbreak  of  War  of  Austrian  Succession  in  Europe, 
1740-48.    This  was  known  in  America  later  as  King  George's  War. 

1741.  Victory  of  Frederick  the  Great  of  Prussia  over  the 
Austrians  at  MoUwitz.     Fall  of  Prague. 

1744.  Actual  proclamation  of  war  by  England.  King  George's 
War  begins  in  America  with  the  French  capture  of  Canseau,  and 
their  repulse  at  Annapolis  (Port  Royal). 

1745.  Uprising  in  Scotland  in  favor  of  the  Young  Pretender, 
Charles  Edward  Stuart.  Battle  of  Prestonpans.  Victory  of  the 
French,  under  Marshal  Saxe,  over  the  English,  Hanoverians, 
Dutch,  and  Austrians  at  Fontenoy.  Sir  William  Pepperell  and 
New  England  troops  capture  Louisburg. 

1746.  The  Jacobite  rebellion  crushed  at  Culloden. 

1748.  The  Peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  terminates  the  War  of  the 
Austrian  Succession.     Louisburg  restored  to  France. 

1753.  Friction  between  French  and  Americans  on  tributaries  of 
the  Alleghany,  along  American  western  frontier.  Washington's 
vain  protest  against  French  seizure  of  Venango. 

1754.  Beginning  of  the  French  and  Indian  War  in  America. 
Washington's  attack  upon  Jumonville,  near  Great  Meadows,  the 
first  action.  The  French  compel  Washington  to  capitulate  at 
Fort  Necessity. 

1755.  Braddock's  expedition  against  Fort  Duquesne  and  his 
disastrous  defeat.  Abortive  expeditions  by  the  EngHsh  against 
Niagara  and  Crown  Point. 

1756.  Formal  declaration  of  hostihties  between  France  and 
England,  and  beginning  of  the  Seven  Years'  War.  Capture  of 
Oswego  by  the  French. 

1757.  Montcalm  takes  Fort  William  Henry  on  Lake  George. 

1758.  Victory  of  Montcalm  at  Ticonderoga.  Reduction  of 
Louisburg,  and  capture  of  Forts  Frontenac  and  Duquesne  by  the 
English. 


THE  FALL  OF  QUEBEC.  411 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE   FALL    OF    QUEBEC,  1759. 

The  visits  of  Breton  fishermen  to  Newfoundland  in  the  early  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, the  voyages  of  Cartier  to  the  St.  Lawrence  in  1534  and  1541-43,  the 
forundation  of  Port  Royal  in  Acadia  in  1605,  and  of  Quebec  by  Champlain  in 
1608,  were  the  beginnings  of  a  French  occupancy  of  the  northern  and  central 
portions  of  North  America  which  led  inevitably  to  conflict  with  England  and 
the  American  colonists.  The  title  based  upon  Marquette's  discovery  of  the 
Mississippi  in  1673,  and  La  Salle's  exploration  and  claim  to  the  whole  vast 
valley  in  1682,  would  have  confined  the  English  to  the  Atlantic  seaboard.  The 
contact  between  the  wholly  different  types  represented  in  English  and  French 
colonization  caused  friction  which  became  acute  when  King  William's  War 
broke  out  in  1689.  The  eight  years  of  that  war,  with  its  profitless  capture  of 
Port  Royal,  Nova  Scotia,  were  followed  by  Queen  Anne's  War,  1702-13,  and 
King  George's  War,  1744-48,  and  the  interval  after  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht  was 
a  truce  rather  than  peace.  The  French  were  strengthening  their  hold  along 
the  western  frontier  of  the  English  colonists,  at  Fort  Duquesne,  and  elsewhere. 
Braddock's  defeat  in  1755,  and  attacks  upon  Crown  Point  and  Niagara,  pre- 
ceded the  formal  declaration  of  hostilities  between  France  and  England  in 
1756,  the  beginning  of  the  Seven  Years'  War,  involving  nearly  all  Europe, 
with  England  and  Prussia  facing  Russia,  France,  Austria,  Sweden,  and  Saxony. 
In  America,  in  1756-57,  the  incompetency  of  Loudon  and  Abercrombie,  the 
dilatory  preparations  to  attack  Louisburg,  and  Montcalm's  capture  of  Fort 
William  Heni^,  made  the  first  stage  of  the  war  a  gloomy  one.  But  Pitt's  en- 
trance into  the  British  cabinet  as  Secretary  of  State  brought  an  intelligent  and 
active  prosecution  of  the  war.  The  next  year,  1758,  witnessed  the  capture  of 
Fort  Frontenac  on  Ontario,  Fort  Duquesne,  and  Louisburg  by  the  English 
and  American  forces.— Editor. 


The  British  Parliament  met  late  in  November,  1758,  at  a  time 
when  the  nation  was  aglow  with  enthusiasm  over  the  successes  of 
the  year — Louisburg  and  Frontenac  in  North  America,  and  the 
driving  of  the  French  from  the  Guinea  coast  as  the  result  of 
battles  at  Senegal  (May)  and  Goree  (November).*  The  war  was 
proving  far  more  costly  than  had  been  anticipated,  yet  Pitt  rigidly 
held  the  country  to  the  task;  but  not  against  its  will,  and  the 
necessary  funds  were  freely  voted.    Walpole  wrote  to  a  friend: 

*  Clowes,  Royal  Navy,  III.,  186-189. 


412  THE  FALL  OF  QUEBEC. 

"Our  unanimity  is  prodigious.  You  would  as  soon  hear  'No' 
from  an  old  maid  as  from  the  House  of  Commons.'*  The  prepara- 
tions for  the  new  year  were  on  a  much  larger  scale  than  before; 
both  by  land  and  sea  France  was  to  be  pushed  to  the  uttermost, 
and  the  warlike  spirit  of  Great  Britain  seemed  wrought  to  the 
highest  pitch. 

The  new  French  premier,  Choiseul,  was  himself  not  lacking  in 
activity.  He  renewed  with  vigor  the  project  of  invading  Great 
Britain,  preparations  therefor  being  evident  quite  early  in  the 
year  1759.  Fifty  thousand  men  were  to  land  in  England,  and 
twelve  thousand  in  Scotland,  where  the  Stuart  cause  still  lingered. 
But  as  usual  the  effort  came  to  naught.  The  Toulon  squadron 
was  to  co-operate  with  one  from  Brest;  Boscawen,  who  now  com- 
manded the  Mediterranean  fleet,  apprehended  the  former  while 
trying  to  escape  through  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar  in  a  thick  haze 
(August  17),  and  after  destroying  several  of  the  ships  dispersed 
the  others;  while  Sir  Edward  Hawke  annihilated  the  Brest  fleet 
in  a  brilliant  sea-fight  off  Quiberon  Bay  (November  20).*  Re- 
lieved of  the  possibility  of  insular  invasion,  the  Channel  and 
Mediterranean  squadrons  were  now  free  to  raid  French  commerce, 
patrol  French  ports,  and  thus  intercept  communication  with  New 
France  and  to  harry  French — and,  later,  Spanish — colonies  overseas. 

In  1757  Clive  had  regained  Calcutta  and  won  Bengal  at  the 
famous  battle  of  Plassey.  Two  years  thereafter  the  East  Indian 
seas  were  abandoned  by  the  French  after  three  decisive  actions 
won  by  Pitt's  valiant  seamen,  and  India  thus  became  a  permanent 
possession  of  the  British  empire.f  In  January,  1759,  also,  the 
British  captured  Guadeloupe,  in  the  West  Indies.f  Lacking  sea 
power,  it  was  impossible  for  France  much  longer  to  hold  her 
colonies;  it  was  but  a  question  of  time  when  the  remainder  should 
fall  into  the  clutches  of  the  mistress  of  the  ocean. 

Notwithstanding  all  this  naval  activity,  Pitt's  principal  opera- 
tions were  really  centred  against  Canada.  The  movement  thither 
was  to  be  along  two  lines,  which  eventually  were  to  meet  in  co- 
operation. First,  a  direct  attack  was  to  be  made  upon  Quebec, 
headed  by  Wolfe,  who  was  to  be  convoyed  and  assisted  by  a  fleet 
under  the  command  of  Admiral  Saunders;  second,  Amherst — 
now  commander-in-chief  in  America,  Abercrombie  having  been 
recalled — was  to  penetrate  Canada  by  way  of  Lakes  George  and 
Champlain.  He  was  to  join  Wolfe  at  Quebec,  but  was  authorized 
to  make  such  diversions  as  he  found  practicable — principally  to 
re-establish  Oswego  and  to  relieve  Pittsburg  (Fort  Duquesne)with 
reinforcements  and  supplies. 

*  Clowes,  Royal  Navy,  III.,  210-214,  on  Boscawen's  victory;  216-222,  on 
Hawke's.  t  I^id.,  196-201.  J  Ibid.,  201-203. 


THE  FALL   OF  QUEBEC.  413 

Wolfe's  selection  as  leader  of  the  Quebec  expedition  occasioned 
general  surprise  in  England.  Yet  it  was  in  the  natural  course  of 
events.  He  had  been  the  life  of  the  Louisburg  campaign  of  the 
year  before,  and  when  Amherst  was  expressing  the  desire  of  at- 
tacking Quebec  after  the  reduction  of  Cape  Breton  he  \\Tote  to  the 
latter:  **An  offensive,  daring  kind  of  war  will  awe  the  Indians 
and  ruin  the  French.  Block-houses  and  a  trembling  defensive 
encourage  the  meanest  scoundrels  to  attack  us.  If  you  will  at- 
tempt to  cut  up  New  France  by  the  roots,  I  will  come  with  pleas- 
ure to  assist."* 

Wolfe,  whose  family  enjoyed  some  influence,  had  attained  a 
captaincy  at  the  age  of  seventeen  and  became  a  major  at  twenty. 
He  was  now  thirty-two,  a  major-general,  and  with  an  excellent 
fighting  record  both  in  Flanders  and  America.  Quiet  and  modest 
in  demeanor,  although  occasionally  using  excitable  and  ill- 
guarded  language,  he  was  a  refined  and  educated  gentleman,  care- 
ful of  and  beloved  by  his  troops,  yet  a  stern  disciplinarian;  and 
although  frail  in  body,  and  often  overcome  by  rheumatism  and 
other  ailments,  capable  of  great  strain  when  buoyed  by  the  zeal 
which  was  one  of  his  characteristics.  The  majority  of  his  por- 
traits represent  a  tall,  lank,  ungainly  form,  with  a  singularly  weak 
facial  profile ;  but  it  is  likely  that  these  belie  him,  for  he  had  an 
indubitable  spirit,  a  profound  mind,  quick  intuition,  a  charming 
manner,  and  was  much  thought  of  by  women.  Indeed,  just  be- 
fore sailing,  be  had  become  engaged  to  the  beautiful  and  charm- 
ing Katharine  Lowther,  sister  of  Lord  Lonsdale,  and  afterwards 
the  Duchess  of  Bolton.f 

On  February  17,  Wolfe  departed  with  Saunders's  fleet  of  twenty- 
one  sail, . bearing  the  king's  secret  instructions  to  ''carry  into 
execution  the  said  important  operation  with  the  utmost  applica- 
tion and  vigour."  %  The  voyage  was  protracted,  and  after  arrival 
at  Louisburg  he  was  obliged  to  wait  long  before  the  promised 
troops  appeared.  He  had  expected  regiments  from  Guadeloupe, 
but  these  could  not  yet  be  spared,  owing  to  their  wretched  condi- 
tion; and  the  Nova  Scotia  garrisons  had  also  been  weakened  by 
disease,  so  that  of  the  twelve  thousand  agreed  upon  he  finally 
could  muster  somewhat  under  nine  thousand.!  These  were  of 
the  best  quality  of  their  kind ;  although  the  general  still  entertained 
a  low  opinion  of  the  value  of  the  provincials,  who,  it  must  be  ad- 


*Parkman,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  II.,  80. 

t  For  biographical  details  of  Wolfe's  early  career,  see  Wright,  Life,  and 
Doughty  and  Parmelee,  Siege  of  Quebec,  I.,  1-128;  in  ibid.,  II.,  16,  is  a  portrait 
of  Wolfe's  fiancee. 

X  Text  in  Doughty  and  Parmelee,  Siege  of  Quebec,  VI.,  87-90. 

§  Lists  in  Doughty  and  Parmelee,  Siege  of  Quebec,  II.,  22,  23. 


414  THE   FALL   OF   QUEBEC. 

raitted,  were,  however  serviceable  in  bush-ranginoj,  far  below  the 
efficiency  of  the  regulars  in  a  campaign  of  this  character.  The 
force  was  divided  into  three  brigades,  under  Monckton,  Townsend, 
and  Murray,  young  men  of  ability;  although  Townsend 's  super- 
cilious manner — the  fruit  of  a  superior  social  connection— did  not 
endear  him  either  to  his  men  or  his  colleagues. 

On  June  1  the  fleet  began  to  leave  Louisburg.  There  were 
thirty-nine  men-of-war,  ten  auxiliaries,  seventy-six  transports, 
and  a  hundred  and  sixty-two  miscellaneous  craft,  which  were 
manned  by  thirteen  thousand  naval  seamen  and  five  thousand 
of  the  mercantile  marine — an  aggregate  of  eighteen  thousand,  or 
twice  as  many  as  the  landsmen  under  Wolfe.*  While  to  the  latter 
is  commonly  given  credit  for  the  result,  it  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  the  victory  was  quite  as  much  due  to  the  skilful  management 
of  the  navy  as  to  that  of  the  army,  the  expedition  being  in  all 
respects  a  joint  enterprise,  into  which  the  men  of  both  branches 
of  the  service  entered  with  intense  enthusiasm. 

The  French  had  placed  much  reliance  on  the  supposed  impos- 
sibility of  great  battle-ships  being  successfully  navigated  up  the 
St.  Lawrence  above  the  mouth  of  the  Saguenay  without  the  most 
careful  piloting.  This  portion  of  the  river,  a  hundred  and  twenty 
miles  in  length,  certainly  is  intricate  water,  being  streaked  with 
perplexing  currents  created  by  the  mingling  of  the  river's  strong 
flow  with  the  flood  and  ebb  of  the  tide;  the  great  stream  is  di- 
verted into  two  parallel  channels  by  reefs  and  islands,  and  there 
are  numerous  shoals  —  moreover,  the  French  had  removed  all 
lights  and  other  aids  to  navigation.  But  British  sailors  laughed 
at  difficulties  such  as  these,  and,  w^hile  they  managed  to  capture 
a  pilot,  had  small  use  for  him,  preferring  their  own  cautious  meth- 
ods. Preceded  by  a  crescent  of  sounding-boats,  officered  by 
Captain  James  Cook,  afterwards  of  glorious  memory  as  a  path- 
finder, the  fleet  advanced  slowly  but  safely,  its  approach  heralded 
by  beacons  gleaming  nightly  to  the  fore,  upon  the  rounded  hill- 
tops overlooking  the  long,  thin  line  of  river-side  settlement  which 
extended  eastward  from  Quebec  to  the  Saguenay.f 

The  French  had  at  first  expected  attacks  only  from  Lake 
Ontario  and  from  the  south.  But  receiving  early  tidings  of 
Wolfe's  expedition,  through  convoys  with  supplies  from  France 
that  had  escaped  Saunders's  patrol  of  the  gulf,  general  alarm 
prevailed,  and  Montcalm  decided  to  make  his  stand  at  Quebec. 
To  the  last  he  appears  to  have  shared  in  the  popular  delusion  that 
British  men-of-war  could  not  ascend  the  river;  nevertheless,  he 

*  Wood,  Fighi  for  Canada,  166,  167,  173. 

t  "  Journal  of  the  Expedition  up  the  River  St.  Lawrence,"  by  a  sergeant- 
major  of  grenadiers,  in  Doughty  and  Parmelee,  Siege  of  Quebec,  V.,  1-11. 


THE   FALL   OF   QUEBEC.  415 

promptly  summoned  to  the  capital  the  greater  part  of  the  militia 
from  all  sections  of  Canada,  save  that  a  thousand  whites  and 
savages  were  left  with  Pouchot  to  defend  Niagara,  twelve  hun- 
dred men  under  De  la  Corne  to  guard  Lake  Ontario,  and  Bour- 
lamaque,  with  upwards  of  three  thousand,  was  ordered  to  delay 
Amherst's  advance  and  thus  prevent  him  from  joining  Wolfe. 
The  population  of  Canada  at  the  time  was  about  eighty-five 
thousand  souls,  and  of  these  perhaps  twenty-two  thousand  were 
capable  of  bearing  arms.*  The  force  now  gathered  in  and  about 
Quebec  aggregated  about  seventeen  thousand,  of  whom  some  ten 
thousand  were  militia,  four  thousand  regulars  of  the  line,  and  a 
thousand  each  of  colonial  regulars,  seamen,  and  Indians;  of  these 
two  thousand  were  reserved  for  the  ganison  of  Quebec,  under 
De  Ramezay,  while  the  remainder  were  at  the  disposal  of  Mont- 
calm for  the  general  defence. t 

The  "rock  of  Quebec"  is  the  northeast  end  of  a  long,  narrow 
triangular  promontory,  to  the  north  of  which  lies  the  valley 
of  the  St.  Charles  and  to  the  south  that  of  the  St.  Lawrence. 
The  acclivity  on  the  St.  Charles  side  is  lower  and  less  steep  than 
the  cUffs  fringing  the  St.  Lawrence,  which  rise  almost  precipitous- 
ly from  two  to  three  hundred  feet  above  the  river — the  citadel 
cliff  being  three  hundred  and  forty-five  feet,  almost  sheer.  Either 
side  of  the  promontory  was  easily  defensible  from  assault,  the 
table-land  being  only  reached  by  steep  and  narrow  paths.  Sur- 
mounting the  cliffs,  at  the  apex  of  the  triangle,  was  Upper  Town, 
the  capital  of  New  France.  Batteries,  largely  manned  by  sail- 
ors, Uned  the  cliff-tops  within  the  town,  and  the  western  base, 
fronting  the  Plains  of  Abraham,  was  protected  by  fifteen  hundred 
yards  of  insecure  wall — for,  after  all,  Quebec  had,  despite  the 
money  spent  upon  it,  never  been  scientifically  fortified,  its  com- 
manders having  from  the  first  relied  chiefly  upon  its  natural 
position  as  a  stronghold. 

At  the  base  of  the  promontory,  on  the  St.  Lawrence  side,  is  a 
wide  beach  occupied  by  Lower  Town,  where  were  the  market, 
the  commercial  warehouses,  a  large  share  of  the  business  es- 
tablishments, and  the  homes  of  the  trading  and  laboring  classes. 
A  narrow  strand,  little  more  than  the  width  of  a  roadway,  ex- 
tended along  the  base  of  the  cliffs  westward,  communicating  with 
the  up-river  country;  another  road  led  westward  along  the  table- 
land above.  Thus  the  city  obtained  its  supplies  from  the  interior 
both  by  highway  and  by  river. 

Entrance  to  the  St.  Charles  side  of  the  promontory  had  been 
blocked  by  booms  at  the  mouth  of  that  river,  protected  by  strong 

♦Doughty  and  Parmelee,  Siege  of  Quebec,  II.,  51-53. 
t  Wood,  Fight  for  Canada,  152. 


416  THE  FALL   OF   QUEBEC. 

redoubts;  and  off  Lower  Town  was  a  line  of  floating  batteries. 
Beyond  the  St.  Charles,  for  a  distance  of  seven  miles  eastward 
to  the  gorge  of  the  Montmorenci,  Montcalm  disposed  the  greater 
part  of  his  forces,  his  position  being  a  plain  naturally  protected 
by  a  steep  slope  descending  to  the  meadow  and  tidal  flats  which 
here  margin  the  St.  Lawrence.  This  plain  rises  gradually  from 
the  St.  Charles,  until  at  the  Montmorenci  cataract  it  attains  a 
height  of  three  hundred  feet,  and  along  the  summit  of  the  Slope 
were  well-devised  trenches.  The  gorge  furnished  a  strong  nat- 
ural defence  to  the  left  wing,  for  it  could  be  forded  only  in  the 
dense  forest  at  a  considerable  distance  above  the  falls,  and  to 
force  this  approach  would  have  been  to  invite  an  ambuscade. 
Wolfe  contented  himself,  therefore,  with  intrenching  a  consider- 
able force  along  the  eastern  bank  of  the  gorge,  and  thence  issuing 
for  frontal  attacks  on  the  Beauport  Flats — so  called  from  the 
name  of  the  village  midway.  Montcalm  had  chosen  this  as  the 
chief  Hne  of  defence,  on  the  theory  that  the  approach  by  the  St. 
Charles  would  be  the  one  selected  by  the  invaders ;  as,  indeed,  it  long 
seemed  to  Wolf  e  the  only  possible  path  to  the  works  of  Upper  Town. 

Westward  of  the  city,  upon  the  table-land,  Bougainville  headed 
a  corps  of  observation,  supposed  continually  to  patrol  the  St. 
Lawrence  cliff-tops  and  keep  communications  open  with  the  in- 
terior; but  this  precaution  failed  in  the  hour  of  need.  The 
height  of  Point  Levis,  across  the  river  from  the  town,  on  the 
south  bank,  was  unoccupied.  Montcalm  had  wished  to  fortify 
this  vantage-point,  and  thus  block  the  river  from  both  sides, 
but  Vaudreuil  had  overruled  him,  and  the  result  was  fatal.  Other 
weak  points  in  the  defence  were  divided  command  and  the 
scarcity  of  food  and  ammunition,  occasioned  largely  by  Bigot's 
rapacious  knavery. 

On  June  26  the  British  fleet  anchored  off  the  Isle  of  Orleans, 
thus  dissipating  the  fond  hopes  of  the  French  that  some  disaster 
might  prevent  its  approach.  Three  days  later  Wolfe's  men, 
now  encamped  on  the  island  at  a  safe  distance  from  Montcalm's 
guns,  made  an  easy  capture  of  Point  Levis,  and  there  erected 
batteries  which  commanded  the  town.  British  ships  were,  in 
consequence,  soon  able  to  pass  Quebec,  under  cover  of  the  Point 
Levis  guns,  and  destroy  some  of  the  French  shipping  anchored 
in  the  upper  basin;  while  landing  parties  harried  the  country  to 
the  west,  forcing  habitants  to  neutrality  and  intercepting  supplies. 
Frequently  the  British  forces  were,  upon  these  various  enter- 
prises, divided  into  three  or  four  isolated  divisions,  which  might 
have  been  roughly  handled  by  a  venturesome  foe.  But  Mont- 
calm rigidly  maintained  the  policy  of  defence,  his  only.offensive 
operations  being  the  unsuccessful  despatch  of  fire-ships  against 
the  invading  fleet. 


THE   FALL   OF   QUEBEC.  417 

On  his  part,  Wolfe  made  several  futile  attacks  upon  the  Beau- 
port  redoubts.  The  position  was,  however,  too  strong  for  him 
to  master,  and  in  one  assault  (July  31)  he  lost  half  of  his  landing 
party — nearly  five  hundred  killed,  wounded,  and  missing.*  This 
continued  ill-success  fretted  Wolfe  and  at  last  quite  disheartened 
him,  for  the  season  was  rapidly  wearing  on,  and  winter  sets  in 
early  at  Quebec;  moreover,  nothing  had  yet  been  heard  of  Am- 
herst. There  was,  indeed,  some  talk  of  waiting  until  another 
season.  However,  more  and  more  British  ships  worked  their 
way  past  the  fort,  and,  by  making  frequent  feints  of  landing  at 
widely  separated  points,  caused  Bougainville  great  annoyance. 
Montcalm  was  accordingly  obliged  to  weaken  his  lower  forces  by 
sending  reinforcements  to  the  plains  west  of  the  city.  Thus, 
while  Wolfe  was  pining,  French  uneasiness  was  growing,  for  the 
British  were  now  intercepting  supplies  and  reinforcements  from 
both  above  and  below,  and  Bougainville's  men  were  gro\ving 
weary  of  constantly  patrolling  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  of  cliffs-f 

Meanwhile,  let  us  see  how  Amherst  was  faring.  At  the  end 
of  June  the  general  assembled  five  thousand  provincials  and 
six  thousand  five  hundred  regulars  at  the  head  of  Lake  George. 
He  had  previously  despatched  Brigadier  Prideaux  with  five 
thousand  regulars  and  provincials  to  reduce  Niagara,  and  Brigadier 
Stanwix,  who  had  been  of  Bradstreet's  party  the  year  before,  to 
succor  Pittsburg,  now  in  imminent  danger  from  French  bush- 
rangers and  Indians  who  were  swarming  at  Presque  Isle,  Le  Boeuf , 
and  Venango. 

Amherst  himself  moved  slowly,  it  being  July  21  before  the  army 
started  northward  upon  the  lake.  Bourlamaque,  whose  sole 
purpose  was  to  delay  the  British  advance,  lay  at  Ticonderoga 
with  three  thousand  five  hundred  men,  but  on  the  26th  he  blew 
up  the  fort  and  retreated  in  good  order  to  Crown  Point.  On  the 
British  approaching  that  post  he  again  fell  back,  this  time  to  a 
strong  position  at  Isle  aux  Noix,  at  the  outlet  of  Lake  Champlain, 
where,  wrote  Bourlamaque  to  a  friend,  "we  are  entrenched  to  the 
teeth,  and  armed  with  a  hundred  pieces  of  cannon."  %  Amherst 
now  deeming  vessels  essential,  yet  lacking  ship-carpenters,  it 
was  the  middle  of  September  before  his  little  navy  was  ready, 
and  then  he  thought  the  season  too  far  advanced  for  further 
operations.!     Amherst's  advance  had,  however,  induced  Mont- 


*  Authorities  cited  in  Parkman,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  IL,  233,  234.  For 
details,  consult  Doughty  and  Parmelee,  Siege  of  Quebec,  IL,  chap.  vi. 

t  See  Bougainville's  correspondence,  in  Doughty  and  Parmelee,  Siege  of 
Quebec,  IV.,  1-141. 

J  September  22,  1759,  quoted  in  Parkman,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  II.,  249. 

§  Official  journal  of  Amherst,  in  London  Magazine,  XXVII.,  379-383. 


418  THE  FALL  OF  QUEBEC. 

calm  to  defend  Montreal,  Levis  having  been  despatched  thither 
for  this  purpose. 

Prideaux,  advancing  up  the  Mohawk,  proceeded  to  Oswego, 
where  he  left  half  of  his  men  to  cover  his  retreat,  and  then  sailed 
to  Niagara.  Slain  by  accident  during  the  siege,  his  place  was 
taken  by  Sir  William  Johnson,  the  Indian  commander,  who 
pushed  the  work  with  vigor.  Suddenly  confronted  by  a  French 
force  of  thirteen  hundred  rangers  and  savages  from  the  west, 
who  had  been  deflected  thither  from  a  proposed  attack  on  Pitts- 
burg, with  the  view  of  recovering  that  fort,  Johnson  completely 
vanquished  them  (July  24).  The  discomfited  crew  burned  their 
posts  in  that  region  and  retreated  precipitately  to  Detroit.  The 
following  day  Niagara  surrendered,  and  thus,  with  Pittsburg 
also  saved,  the  west  was  entirely  cut  off  from  Canada,  and  the 
upper  Ohio  Valley  was  placed  in  British  hands.  The  work  of 
Stanwix  having  been  accomplished  by  Johnson,  the  former,  who 
had  been  greatly  delayed  by  transport  difficulties,  advanced  as 
promptly  as  possible  to  the  Forks  of  the  Ohio,  and  in  the  place 
of  the  old  French  works  built  the  modernized  stronghold  of  Fort 
Pitt.* 

On  August  20,  Wolfe  fell  seriously  ill.  Both  he  and  the  army 
were  discouraged.  The  casualties  had  thus  far  been  over  eight 
hundred  men,  and  disease  had  cut  a  wide  swath  through  the 
ranks.  Desperate,  he  at  last  accepted  the  counsel  of  his  officers, 
that  a  landing  be  attempted  above  the  town,  supplies  definitively 
cut  off  from  Montreal,  and  Montcalm  forced  to  fight  or  surrender. 
From  September  3  to  12,  Wolfe,  arisen  from  his  bed  but  still  weak, 
quietly  withdrew  his  troops  from  the  Montmorenci  camp  and 
transported  them  in  vessels  which  successfully  passed  through 
a  heavy  cannonading  from  the  fort  to  safe  anchorage  in  the  upper 
basin.  Reinforcements  marching  along  the  southern  bank,  from 
Point  Levis,  soon  joined  their  comrades  aboard  the  ships.  For 
several  days  this  portion  of  the  fleet  regularly  floated  up  and  down 
the  river  above  Quebec,  with  the  changing  tide,  thus  wearing  out 
Bougainville's  men,  who  in  great  perplexity  followed  the  enemy 
along  the  cliff-tops,  through  a  beat  of  several  leagues,  until  from 
sheer  exhaustion  they  at  last  became  careless. 

On  the  evening  of  September  12,  Saunders — whose  admirable 
handling  of  the  fleet  deserves  equal  recognition  with  the  services 
of  Wolfe — commenced  a  heavy  bombardment  of  the  Beauport 
lines,  and  feigned  a  general  landing  at  that  place.  Montcalm, 
not  knowing  that  the  majority  of  the  British  were  by  this  time 
above  the  town,  and  deceived  as  to  his  enemy's  real  intent,  hur- 
ried to  Beauport  the  bulk  of  his  troops,  save  those  necessary  for 

*  Stanwix  to  Pitt,  November  20,  1759,  MS.  in  Public  Record  Office. 


THE   FALL   OF   QUEBEC. 


419 


Bougainville's  rear  guard.     Meanwhile,  however,  Wolfe  was  pre- 
paring for  his  desperate  attempt  several  miles  up  the  river. 

Before  dayhght  the  following  morning  (September  13),  thirty 
boats  containing  seventeen  hundred  picked  men,  with  Wolfe  at 
their  head,  floated  down  the  stream  under  the  dark  shadow  of 
the  apparently  insurmountable  chffs.  They  were  challenged  by 
sentinels  along  the  shore;  but,  by  pretending  to  be  a  provision 
convoy  which  had  been  expected  from  up-country,  suspicion  was 
disarmed.  About  two  miles  above  Quebec  they  landed  at  an 
indentation  then  known  as  Anse  du  Foulon,  but  now  called  Wolfe's 
Cove.    From  the  narrow  beach  a  small,  winding  path,  sighted  by 


SIEGE    OF    QUEBEC. 


Wolfe  two  days  before,  led  up  through  the  trees  and  underbrush 
to  the  Plains  of  Abraham.  The  climbing  party  of  twenty-four 
infantrymen  found  the  path  obstructed  by  an  abattis  and  trenches; 
but,  nothing  daunted,  they  clambered  up  the  height  of  two  hun- 
dred feet  by  the  aid  of  stunted  shrubs,  reached  the  top,  overcame 
the  weak  and  cowardly  guard  of  a  hundred  men,  made  way  for 
their  comrades,  and  by  sunrise  forty-five  hundred  men  of  the 
British  army  were  drawn  up  across  the  plateau  before  the  walls  of 
Quebec* 

Montcalm,  ten  miles  away  on  the  other  side  of  the  St.  Charles, 
was  amazed  at  the  daring  feat,  but  by  nine  o'clock  had  massed 
his  troops  and  confronted  his  enemy.  The  battle  was  brief  but 
desperate.  The  intrepid  Wolfe  fell  on  the  field — "the  only 
British  general,"  declared  Horace  Walpole,  "belonging  to  the 
reign  of  George  the  Second,  who  can  be  said  to  have  earned  a  last- 

*  [There  was  one  regular  regiment  of  American  origin  with  Wolfe,  the  "  Royal 
Americans,"  represented  by  their  second  and  third  battalions.  One  battalion 
was  left  to  guard  the  landing.  The  superior  officers  of  this  regiment  were 
English.  There  seem  to  have  been  also  some  provincial  rangers,  although  the 
famous  Robert  Rogers  was  not  present.— Editor]. 


420  THE  FALL   OF   QUEBEC, 

ing  reputation."*  Montcalm,  mortally  wounded,  was  carried 
by  his  fleeing  comrades  within  the  city,  where  he  died  before 
morning.  During  the  seven  hours'  battle,  the  British  had  lost 
fifty-eight  killed  and  five  hundred  and  ninety-seven  wounded, 
about  twenty  per  cent,  of  the  firing-line;  the  French  lost  about 
twelve  hundred  killed,  wounded,  and  prisoners,  of  whom  perhaps 
a  fourth  were  killed. f 

Torn  by  disorder,  the  militia  mutinous,  the  walls  in  ruins  from 
the  cannonading  of  the  British  fleet,  and  Vaudreuil  and  his  fellows 
fleeing  to  the  interior,  the  helpless  garrison  of  Quebec  surrendered, 
September  17,  the  British  troops  entering  the  following  day.  The 
English  flag  now  floated  over  the  citadel,  and  soon  there  was 
great  rejoicing  throughout  Great  Britain  and  her  American  col- 
onies; and  well  there  might  be,  for  the  affair  on  the  Plains  of 
Abraham  was  one  of  the  most  heroic  and  far-reaching  achieve- 
ments ever  wrought  by  Englishmen  in  any  land  or  age. 

SYNOPSIS    OF    THE   PRINCIPAL    EVENTS,    CHIEFLY    MILITARY, 

BETWEEN  THE  BATTLE  OF  QUEBEC,  1759,  AND   THE 

BATTLE   OF   YORKTOWN,    1781. 

A.D.  1760.  Accession  of  George  III.  to  throne  of  England.  The 
English  capture  Montreal. 

1761.  American  commerce  and  industry  closely  restricted  by 
enforcement  of  navigation  laws,  acts  of  trade,  and  writs  of  as- 
sistance.    Protests  of  James  Otis  and  Patrick  Henry. 

1762.  England  declares  war  against  Spain  and  captures 
Havana. 

1763.  Treaty  of  Paris  and  cession  of  Canada  and  other  French 
possessions  to  England.  [See  pp.  296-297.]  End  of  the  Seven 
Years'  War.  Florida  ceded  to  England  by  Spain;  Louisiana 
ceded  to  Spain  by  France.  Pontiac's  War  intended  to  check 
settlement  west  of  Pittsburg. 

1765.  Passage  of  the  Stamp  Act  by  the  British  Parliament, 
followed  by  American  protests. 

1766.  Repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act. 

1767.  The  British  Parliament,  by  the  Townshend  Acts,  imposes 
duties  on  paper,  glass,  tea,  etc.,  imported  into  America. 

1769.  Massachusetts  House  of  Representatives  refuses  to  pay 
for  quartering  British  troops.  Defeat  of  PaoU  and  subjection  of 
Corsica  by  the  French. 

1770.  "Boston  Massacre" — British  soldiers,  provoked  by  citi- 
zens, kill  three  and  wound  several. 

*  Doughty  and  Parmelee,  Siege  of  Quebec,  II.,  237. 

t  Ibid.,  II.,  332,  with  detailed  British  returns;  Wood,  Fight  for  Canada,  262. 


THE   FALL   OF   QUEBEC,  421 

1772.  First  partition  of  Poland  between  Russia,  Austria,  and 
Prussia.  Samuel  Adams  actively  advocates  independence  in 
Boston.  British  ship,  the  Gaspee,  burned  by  Rhode  Islanders, 
Virginia  Assembly  appoints  Committee  of  Correspondence  to 
keep  in  touch  with  other  colonies. 

1773.  "Boston  Tea-party" — taxed  tea  from  England  thrown 
overboard  in  Boston  harbor  by  disgmsed  Americans. 

1774.  Five  oppressive  Acts,  including  Boston  Port  Bill,  passed 
by  British  Parliament.  General  Gage,  commissioned  as  Governor, 
comes  to  Boston  with  additional  British  troops.  A  Congress 
meets  in  Philadelphia,  with  delegates  from  all  colonies  except 
Georgia,  and  issues  a  "Declaration  of  Rights,"  frames  Articles  of 
Association,  and  indorses  opposition  of  Massachusetts  to  the 
Oppressive  Acts  of  Parhament. 

1775.  General  Gage  sends  troops  to  destroy  supplies  gathered 
at  Concord.  Battles  of  Lexington  and  Concord.  North  Caro- 
lina the  first  to  instruct  delegates  to  Congress  for  independence. 
Battle  of  Bunker  Hill.  Seizure  of  Ticonderoga  and  occupation  of 
Crown  Point  by  Americans.  Washington  takes  command  of  the 
army  at  Cambridge.  The  Americans  capture  Montreal.  Arnold 
repulsed  at  Quebec  and  Montgomery  killed. 

1776.  Declaration  of  Independence.  Battles  of  Long  Island 
and  White  Plains,  in  which  the  Americans  are  defeated.  Oc- 
cupation of  New  York  by  the  British.  Battle  of  Trenton  and 
defeat  of  the  Hessians. 

1777.  Victory  of  Washington  at  Princeton.  American  victory 
at  Bennington.  Howe  defeats  Washington  at  the  Brandywine. 
The  British  enter  Philadelphia,  and  Washington  is  repulsed  at 
Germantown.  Surrender  of  Burgoyne  at  Saratoga.  [See  pp.  298- 
326.]  Congress  adopts  the  Articles  of  Confederation.  Wash- 
ington establishes  winter  headquarters  at  Valley  Forge. 

1778.  France  acknowledges  the  independence  of  the  United 
States  and  declares  war  against  England.  French  fleet  arrives  in 
Delaware  Bay.  Battles  of  Monmouth  and  Rhode  Island.  Beginning 
of  the  War  of  the  Bavarian  Succession  between  Austria  and  Prussia. 

1779.  Americans,  under  Wayne,  storm  Stony  Point.  Paul 
Jones,  in  Bon  Homme  Richard,  captures  Serapis  off  Flamborough 
Head,  England.     Ending  of  the  War  of  the  Bavarian  Succession. 

1780.  British  victorious  at  Charleston  and  Camden,  South  Caro- 
hna.  Defeat  of  the  British  at  King's  Mountain.  Benedict 
Arnold  turns  traitor,  and  agrees  to  deliver  West  Point  to  the 
British.  Capture  and  execution  of  Andre.  The  British  admiral 
Rodney  defeats  the  Spanish  fleet  off  Cape  St.  Vincent. 

1781.  The  Americans  are  victorious  at  Cowpens,  South  Carolina, 
and  are  defeated  at  Guilford  Court  House,  North  Carolina.  Corn- 
wallis  retires  to  Yorktown  after  unsuccessful  pursuit  of  Lafayette. 


422  YORKTOWN. 


CHAPTER  II. 

YORKTOWN  AND  THE   SURRENDER  OP   CORNWALLIS,   1781. 

The  year  1781  opened  with  small  promise  of  a  speedy  ending  of  the  American 
struggle  for  independence.  New  York  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  English. 
Comwallis  was  confident  of  success  in  the  South.  But  Greene's  brilliant  cam- 
paigning and  Lafayette's  strategy  left  Cornwallis  with  a  wearied  army  devoid 
of  any  fruits  of  victory,  and  finally  returning  to  the  seaboard,  he  settled  him- 
self at  Yorktown.  Washington,  before  New  York,  had  watched  the  southern 
campaigns  closely.  Word  came  from  the  Count  de  Grasse  that  the  French 
fleet  under  his  command  was  ready  to  leave  the  West  Indies  and  join  in 
operations  in  Virginia.  Washington  at  once  planned  a  new  campaign,  des- 
tined to  prove  of  peculiar  brilliancy.  He  was  joined  by  Rochambeau's  French 
army  from  Newport.  Clinton,  the  British  commander  in  New  York,  was 
tricked  into  believing  that  the  city  was  to  be  closely  besieged.  But  the  Amer- 
ican and  French  armies,  six  thousand  strong,  passed  by  New  York  in  a  race 
through  Princeton  and  Philadelphia  to  Chesapeake  Bay,  which  they  reached 
on  September  5,  the  day  that  de  Grasse  entered  with  his  fleet  to  join  the  other 
French  fleet  which  had  been  set  free  from  Newport.  De  Grasse  maintained 
his  command  of  Chesapeake  Bay  in  spite  of  the  futile  attack  of  Admiral  Graves 
and  the  British  fleet.  If  Rodney,  who  had  sailed  for  England,  had  been 
in  Graves's  place  the  outcome  might  have  been  different.  A  defeat  of  de 
Grasse  would  have  meant  British  control  of  the  water  and  a  support  for  Com- 
wallis, which  would  have  saved  his  army  and  ruined  Washington's  plans. 
Yorktown  affords  one  of  the  striking  illustrations  in  Captain  Mahan's  Influence 
of  Sea  Power  upon  History.— Editok. 


The  allied  American  and  French  armies  joined  Lafayette  at 
Williamsburg,  Virginia,  September  25,  1781,  and  on  the  27th 
there  was  a  besieging  army  there  of  sixteen  thousand  men,  under 
the  chief  command  of  Washington,  assisted  by  Rochambeau. 
The  British  force,  about  half  as  numerous,  were  mostly  behind 
intrenchments  at  Yorktown.  On  the  arrival  of  Washington  and 
Rochambeau  at  Williamsburg  they  proceeded  to  the  Ville  de  Paris, 
de  Grasse's  flag-ship,  to  congratulate  the  admiral  on  his  victory 
over  the  British  admiral  Graves  on  the  5th,  which  had  prevented 
British  reUef  of  Yorktown  by  sea,  and  to  make  specific  arrange- 
ments for  the  future.    Preparations  for  the  siege  were  immediately 


YORKTOWN. 


423 


begun.  The  allied  armies  marched  from  WilUamsburg  (September 
28),  driving  in  the  British  outposts  as  they  approached  Yorktown, 
and  taking  possession  of  abandoned  works.  The  allies  formed  a 
semicircular  line  about  two  miles  from  the  British  intrenchments, 


each  wing  resting  on  the  York  River,  and  on  the  30th  the  place  was 
completely  invested.  The  British  at  Gloucester,  opposite,  were 
imprisoned  by  French  dragoons  under  the  Duke  de  Lauzun,  Vir- 
ginia militia,  led  by  General  Weedon,  and  eight  hundred  French 
marines.  Only  once  did  the  imprisoned  troops  attempt  to  escape 
28 


424  YORKTOWN, 

from  that  point.  Tarleton's  legion  sallied  out,  but  were  soon 
driven  back  by  de  Lauzun's  cavalry,  who  made  Tarleton's  horse 
a  prisoner  and  came  near  capturing  his  owner. 

In  the  besieging  lines  before  Yorktown  the  French  troops 
occupied  the  left,  the  West  India  troops  of  St.  Simon  being  on  the 
extreme  flank.  The  Americans  were  on  the  right;  and  the  French 
artillery,  with  the  quarters  of  the  two  commanders,  occupied  the 
centre.  The  American  artillery,  commanded  by  General  Knox, 
was  with  the  right.  The  fleet  of  de  Grasse  was  in  Lynn  Haven 
Bay  to  beat  off  any  vessels  that  might  attempt  to  relieve  Corn- 
waUis.  On  the  night  of  October  6  heavy  ordnance  was  brought 
up  from  the  French  ships,  and  trenches  were  begun  at  six  hundred 
yards  from  the  British  works.  The  first  parallel  was  completed 
before  the  morning  of  the  7th,  under  the  direction  of  General 
Lincoln;  and  on  the  afternoon  of  the  9th  several  batteries  and  re- 
doubts were  finished,  and  a  general  discharge  of  heavy  guns  was 
opened  by  the  Americans  on  the  right.  Early  on  the  morning  of 
the  10th  the  French  opened  several  batteries  on  the  left.  That 
evening  the  same  troops  hurled  red-hot  balls  upon  British  vessels 
in  the  river,  which  caused  the  destruction  by  fire  of  several  of 
them — one  a  forty-four-gun  ship. 

The  allies  began  the  second  parallel  on  the  night  of  the  11th, 
which  the  British  did  not  discover  until  daylight  came,  when  they 
brought  several  heavy  guns  to  bear  upon  the  diggers.  On  the 
14th  it  was  determined  to  storm  two  of  the  redoubts  which  were 
most  annoying,  as  they  commanded  the  trenches.  One  on  the 
right,  near  the  York  River,  was  garrisoned  by  forty-five  men;  the 
other,  on  the  left,  was  manned  by  about  one  hundred  and  twenty 
men.  The  capture  of  the  former  was  intrusted  to  Americans  led 
by  Lieutenant-Colonel  Alexander  Hamilton,  and  that  of  the  latter 
to  French  grenadiers  led  by  Count  Deuxponts.  At  a  given  signal 
Hamilton  advanced  in  two  columns^ — one  led  by  Major  Fish,  the 
other  by  Lieutenant-Colonel  Gimat,  Lafayette's  aide,  while  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel John  Laurens,  with  eighty  men,  proceeded  to  turn 
the  redoubt  to  intercept  a  retreat  of  the  garrison.  So  agile  and 
furious  was  the  assault  that  the  redoubt  was  carried  in  a  few 
minutes,  with  little  loss  on  either  side.  Laurens  was  among  the 
first  to  enter  the  redoubt,  and  make  the  commander.  Major  Camp- 
bell, a  prisoner.  The  life  of  every  man  who  ceased  to  resist  was 
spared. 

Meanwhile  the  French,  after  a  severe  struggle,  in  which  they 
lost  about  one  hundred  men  in  killed  and  wounded,  captured  the 
other  redoubt.  Washington,,  with  Knox  and  some  others,  had 
watched  the  movements  with  intense  anxiety,  and  when  the  com- 
mander-in-chief saw  both  redoubts  in  possession  of  his  troops  he 
turned  and  said  to  Knox,  "The  work  is  done,  and  well  done." 


YORKTOWN.  425 

That  night  both  redoubts  were  included  in  the  second  parallel. 
The  situation  of  Cornwallis  was  now  critical.  He  was  surrounded 
by  a  superior  force,  his  works  were  crumbling,  and  he  saw  that 
when  the  second  parallel  of  the  besiegers  should  be  completed 
and  the  cannon  on  their  batteries  mounted  his  post  at  Yorktown 
would  become  untenable,  and  he  resolved  to  attempt  an  escape  by- 
abandoning  the  place,  his  baggage,  and  his  sick,  cross  the  York 
River,  disperse  the  aUies  who  environed  Gloucester,  and  by  rapid 
marches  gain  the  forks  of  the  Rappahannock  and  Potomac,  and, 
forcing  his  way  by  weight  of  numbers  through  Maryland  and 
Pennsylvania,  join  CUnton  at  New  York. 

Boats  for  the  passage  of  the  river  were  prepared  and  &  part  of 
the  troops  passed  over,  when  a  furious  storm  suddenly  arose  and 
made  any  further  attempts  to  cross  too  hazardous  to  be  under- 
taken. The  troops  were  brought  back,  and  CornwaUis  lost  hope. 
After  that  the  bombardment  of  his  lines  was  continuous,  severe, 
and  destructive,  and  on  the  17th  he  offered  to  make  terms  for 
surrender.  On  the  following  day  Lieutenant-Colonel  de  Laurens 
and  Viscount  de  Noailles  (a  kinsman  of  Madame  Lafayette),  as 
commissioners  of  the  allies,  met  Lieutenant-Colonel  Dundas  and 
Major  Ross,  of  the  British  army,  at  the  house  of  the  Widow 
Moore  to  arrange  terms  for  capitulation.  They  were  made 
similar  to  those  demanded  of  Lincoln  at  Charleston  eighteen 
months  before.  The  capitulation  was  duly  signed,  October  19, 
1781,  and  late  on  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  Cornwallis,  his 
army,  and  pubUc  property  were  surrendered  to  the  allies.* 

For  the  siege  of  Yorktown  the  French  provided  thirty-seven 
ships-of-the-line,  and  the  Americans  nine.  The  Americans  fur- 
nished nine  thousand  land  troops  (of  whom  fifty-five  hundred 
were  regulars),  and  the  French  seven  thousand.  Among  the 
prisoners  were  two  battalions  of  Anspachers,  amounting  to  ten 
hundred  and  twenty-seven  men,  and  two  regiments  of  Hessians, 
numbering  eight  hundred  and  seventy-five.  The  flag  of  the  An- 
spachers was  given  to  Washington  by  the  Congress. 

The  news  of  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis  at  Yorktown  spread 
great  joy  throughout  the  colonies,  especially  at  Philadelphia,  the 
seat  of  the  national  government.  Washington  sent  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Tilghman  to  Congress  with  the  news.  He  rode  express 
to  Philadelphia  to  carry  the  despatches  of  the  chief  announcing 
the  joyful  event.  He  entered  the  city  at  midnight,  October  23,  and 
knocked  so  violently  at  the  door  of  Thomas  McKean,  the  president 
of  Congress,  that  a  watchman  was  disposed  to  arrest  him.    Soon 

*  For  the  text  of  the  articles  of  capitulation,  and  the  general  return  of  the 
oflBcers  and  privates  surrendered,  see  Harper*s  Encyelopadia  of  United  States 
History,  X, 


426  YORKTOWN. 

the  glad  tidings  spread  over  the  city.  The  watchman,  proclaim- 
ing the  hour  and  giving  the  usual  cry,  "All's  well,"  added,  "and 
Cornwallis  is  taken!"  Thousands  of  citizens  rushed  from  their 
beds,  half-dressed,  and  filled  the  streets.  The  old  State-house  bell, 
that  had  clearly  proclaimed  independence,  now  rang  out  tones 
of  gladness.  Lights  were  seen  moving  in  every  house.  The  first 
blush  of  morning  was  greeted  with  the  booming  of  cannon,  and 
at  an  early  hour  the  Congress  assembled  and  with  quick-beating 
hearts  heard  Charles  Thompson  read  the  despatch  from  Washing- 
ton. At  its  conclusion  it  was  resolved  to  go  in  a  body  to  the 
Lutheran  church,  at  2  p.m.,  and  "return  thanks  to  the  Almighty 
God  for  crowning  the  allied  armies  of  the  United  States  and  France 
with  success."* 

11. 

THE  RESULTS   OF  YORKTOWN. 

By  Claude  Halstead  Van  Tyne,  Ph.D. 

The  surrender  of  Cornwallis  came  at  the  right  time  to  produce 
a  great  political  effect  in  England.  The  war  had  assumed  such 
tremendous  proportions  that  accumulated  disaster  seemed  to 
threaten  the  ruin  of  Great  Britain.  From  India  came  news  of 
Hyder  Ali's  temporary  successes,  and  of  the  presence  of  a  strong 
French  armament  which  demanded  that  England  yield  every 
claim  except  to  Bengal.  That  Warren  Hastings  and  Sir  Eyre 
Coote  would  yet  save  the  British  empire  there,  the  politicians 
could  not  foresee.  Spain  had  already  driven  the  British  forces 
from  Florida,  and  in  the  spring  of  1782  Minorca  fell  before  her 
repeated  assaults  and  Gibraltar  was  fearfully  beset.  De  Grasse's 
successes  during  the  winter  in  the  West  Indies  left  only  Jamaica, 
Barbadoes,  and  Antigua  in  British  hands.  St.  Eustatius,  too,  was 
recaptured,  and  it  was  not  until  the  middle  of  April  that  Rodney 
regained  England's  naval  supremacy  by  a  famous  victory  near 
Marie-Galante.f  England  had  not  a  friend  in  Europe,  and  was 
beset  at  home  by  violent  agitation  in  Ireland,  to  which  she  was 
obliged  to  yield  an  independent  Irish  Parliament.}:  Rodney's 
victory  and  the  successful  repulsion  of  the  Spaniards  from  Gib- 

*A  detailed  description  of  the  topography  and  events  of  the  Yorktown 
campaign  is  afforded  in  Lossing's  Pictorial  Fieldbook  of  the  Revolution,  II., 
chap.  xii.  An  elaborate  and  authoritative  study  from  a  military  point  of  view 
is  provided  in  The  Yorktown  Campaign,  by  Henry  P.  Johnston.  Both  histories 
are  published  by  Harper  &  Brothers. 

■f  Annual  Register,  XXV.,  252-257. 

X  Two  Centuries  of  Irish  History,  91. 


YORKTOWN,  427 

raltar,  in  the  summer  of  1782,  came  too  late  to  save  the  North 
ministry. 

The  negotiations  between  the  English  and  American  peace  en- 
voys dragged  on.  Congress  had  instructed  the  commissioners 
not  to  make  terms  without  the  approval  of  the  French  court,  but 
the  commissioners  became  suspicious  of  Vergennes,  broke  their 
instructions,  and  dealt  directly  and  solely  with  the  British  envoys. 
Boundaries,  fishery  questions,  treatment  of  the  American  loyalists, 
and  settlement  of  American  debts  to  British  subjects  were  settled 
one  after  another,  and  November  30,  1782,  a  provisional  treaty 
was  signed.  The  definitive  treaty  was  delayed  until  September 
3,  1783,  after  France  and  England  had  agreed  upon  terms  of 
peace.* 

America  awaited  the  outcome  almost  with  lethargy.  After 
Yorktown  the  country  relapsed  into  indifference,  and  Washington 
was  left  helpless  to  do  anything  to  assure  victory.  He  could  only 
wait  and  hope  that  the  enemy  was  as  exhausted  as  America. 
Disorganization  was  seen  everywhere — in  politics,  in  finance,  and 
in  the  army.  Peace  came  like  a  stroke  of  good-fortune  rather 
than  a  prize  that  was  won.  Congress  (January  14,  1784)  could 
barely  assemble  a  quorum  to  ratify  the  treaty.f 

During  the  war  many  had  feared  that  British  victory  would 
mean  the  overthrow  in  England  of  constitutional  hberty.  The 
defeat,  therefore,  of  the  king's  purpose  in  America  seemed  a  vic- 
tory for  liberalism  in  England  as  well  as  in  America.  Personal 
government  was  overthrown,  and  no  British  king  has  gained  such 
power  since.  The  dangers  to  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press 
were  ended.  Corruption  and  daring  disregard  of  public  law  re- 
ceived a  great  blow.  The  ancient  course  of  English  constitutional 
development  was  resumed.  England  never,  it  is  true,  yielded  to 
her  colonies  what  America  had  demanded  in  1775,  but  she  did 
learn  to  handle  the  affairs  of  her  colonies  with  greater  diplomacy, 
and  she  does  not  allow  them  now  to  get  into  such  an  unsym- 
pathetic state. 

Great  Britain  herself  was  not  so  near  ruin  as  she  seemed ;  she  was 
still  to  be  the  mother  of  nations,  and  the  English  race  was  not 
weakened  though  the  empire  was  broken.  In  poHtical,  social, 
and  intellectual  spirit  England  and  America  continued  to  be  much 
the  same.  English  notions  of  private  and  public  law  still  persisted 
in  independent  America.  The  large  influence  which  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race  had  long  had  upon  the  world's  destiny  was  not  left 
with  either  America  or  England  alone,  but  with  them  both. 
America  only  continued  England's  "  manifest  destiny "  in  Amer- 

*  TrecUies  and  Conventions,  370,  375. 

'\  Journals  of  Congress,  January  13,  14,  1784. 


428  YORKTOWN. 

ica,  pushing  her  language,  modes  of  political  and  intellectual  ac- 
tivity, and  her  social  customs  westward  and  southward — driving 
back  Latin  civilization  in  the  same  resistless  way  as  before  the  Rev- 
olution. 

For  America  much  good  came  out  of  the  Revolution.  Amer- 
icans had  acted  together  in  a  great  crisis,  and  Washington's  efforts 
in  the  army  to  banish  provincial  distinctions  did  much  to  create 
fellow-feeling,  which  would  make  real  union  possible.  With  laws 
and  governments  alike,  and  the  same  predominant  language, 
together  with  common  political  and  economic  interests,  future 
unity  seemed  assured. 

The  republican  form  of  government  was  now  given  a  strong 
foothold  in  America.  Frederick  the  Great  asserted  that  the  new 
republic  could  not  endure,  because  "  a  republican  government  had 
never  been  known  to  exist  for  any  length  of  time  where  the  terri- 
tory was  not  limited  and  concentrated,"  yet  America,  within  a 
century,  was  to  make  it  a  success  over  a  region  three  times  as 
great  as  the  territory  for  which  Frederick  foretold  failure.* 


SYNOPSIS   OF  PRINCIPAL   EVENTS,  CHIEFLY  MILITARY,   BE- 
TWEEN THE  BATTLE  OF  YORKTOWN,  1781,  AND 
ul  r  THE    BATTLES    OF  VICKSBURG    AND 

GETTYSBURG,    1863. 

Note. — For  synopses  of  European  events  between  Yorktown  and  Water- 
loo, see  page  326  and  pages  341-343.  Down  to  Waterloo  the  dates  below  relate 
only  to  American  events. 

"  A.D.  1783.  Peace  of  Versailles.  Great  Britain  recognizes  the 
independence  of  the  United  States,  restores  Florida  and  Minorca 
to  Spain,  and  cedes  Tobago  to  France. 

1791.  Defeat  of  the  Americans,  under  St.  Clair,  by  the  Miami 
Indians.     Insurrection  of  the  blacks  against  the  French  in  Hayti. 

1794.  Wayne  defeats  the  Indians  near  Maumee  Rapids,  Ohio. 

1798.  The  United  States  prepares  for  war  with  France.  Some 
fighting  at  sea,  but  friendly  relations  soon  re-established. 

1800.  Retrocession  of  Louisiana  to  France  by  Spain. 

1801.  War  between  Tripoli  and  the  United  States. 

1803.  Purchase  of  Louisiana  from  France  by  the  United  States. 
1812.  War  between  the  United  States  and  England.    The  Amer- 
icans, under  Hull,  invade  Canada.    Hull  is  besieged,  and  surren- 

*  For  the  complete  history  of  the  American  struggle  for  independence,  see 
Prof.  Van  Tyne's  The  American  Revolution,  IX.,  in  The  American  Nation. 
Harper  &  Brothers. 


YORKTOWN.  429 

ders   Detroit.    Many  brilliant  single  ship  actions  won  by  the 
Americans. 

1813.  The  Americans  capture  York  (Toronto),  and  the  British 
are  repulsed  at  Sackett's  Harbor.  Victory  of  the  Americans, 
under  Perry,  on  Lake  Erie. 

1814.  American  frigate  Essex  captured  by  Phoebe  and  Cherub 
at  Valparaiso.  The  Americans,  under  Scott  and  Brown,  are 
victorious  at  Lundy's  Lane,  and  McDonough  wins  the  naval 
battle  of  Lake  Champlain.  Washington  captured  by  the  British 
on  August  1.  and  public  buildings  burned.  Under  the  Treaty  of 
Ghent,  peace  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  is  de- 
clared, December  24. 

1815.  Jackson  defeats  the  British  at  New  Orleans.  Conunodore 
Decatur  imposes  terms  upon  the  Dey  of  Algiers.  Napoleon 
escapes  from  Elba,  and  Louis  XVIII.  is  obliged  to  seek  refuge  in 
flight.  The  campaign  of  the  "  Hundred  Days."  Napoleon  is  de- 
feated at  Waterloo  by  Wellington  and  Blucher.  (See  pages  344- 
407.)  Second  abdication  of  Napoleon,  and  return  of  Louis  XVIII. 
Napoleon  exiled  to  the  island  of  St.  Helena.  Formation  of  the 
"Holy  Alliance"  between  Russia,  Austria,  and  Prussia.  Second 
Peace  of  Paris.  Congress  of  Vienna  reorganizes  political  system 
of  Europe. 

FROM  WATERLOO   TO   VICKSBURG. 

1818.  Congress  of  Powers  at  Aix-la-Chapelle.  Foreign  armies 
withdraw  from  France.  Campaign  of  Andrew  Jackson  against 
Seminoles  and  occupation  of  Pensacola. 

1819.  Treaty  between  the  United  States  and  Spain  for  the 
cession  of  Florida.  (Formal  possession  given  to  the  United  States 
in  1821.)  A  new  revolution  in  Mexico,  headed  by  Iturbide,  se- 
cures the  independence  of  that  country.  The  colonies  of  Central 
America  declare  themselves  independent  of  Spain.  Colombia  and 
Peru  also  throw  off  the  Spanish  yoke. 

1820.  George  IV.  ascends  throne  of  England.  Insurrection  in 
Naples  and  Sicily.     Ferdinand  I.  deposed. 

1821.  Congress  of  European  Powers  at  Laibach.  Ferdinand  I. 
restored  by  Austrians.  Outbreak  of  Greek  revolution.  Revolu- 
tion headed  by  Iturbide  in  Mexico  gains  independence  of  country. 
Central  American  colonies  declare  independence  of  Spain.  Death 
of  Napoleon.     Brazil  declares  independence  of  Portugal. 

1822.  Proclamation  of  Greek  independence. 

1823.  French  invasion  of  Spain  to  restore  Ferdinand  VII. 
President  Monroe  declares  against  European  interference  with 
independent  governments  in  the  Western  hemisphere. 

1824.  War  between  England  and  Burmah.    The  victory  of 


430  YORKTOWN. 

General  Sucre  at  Ayacucho  destroys  the  last  vestige  of  Spanish 
dominion  in  South  America. 

1826.  Capture  of  Missolonghi  by  Turks,  who  occupy  Athens. 
War  between  Russia  and  Persia. 

1827.  The  allied  (British,  French,  and  Russian)  fleets  destroy 
the  Turkish-Egyptian  fleet  at  Navarino. 

1828.  War  between  Russia  and  Turkey. 

1829.  Peace  of  Adrianople  between  Russia  and  Turkey.  The 
latter  agrees  to  recognize  the  independence  of  Greece. 

1830.  The  French  begin  the  subjection  of  Algeria.  Revolution 
in  Paris.  Flight  of  Charles  X.  Louis  Philippe  declared  King. 
Outbreak  of  Belgian  insurrection.  Independence  of  Belgium  rec- 
ognized.    Revolution  in  Poland. 

1831.  Garrison  begins  publication  of  Liberator  in  Boston,  at- 
tacking slavery.    Subjection  of  Poland  by  Russia. 

1832.  Black  Hawk's  war  closed  by  his  defeat  in  Wisconsin. 
Liberation  of  Belgium. 

1833.  Revolutionary  attempt  at  Frankfort.  Carlist  insurrection 
in  Spain.   Dom  Pedro  enters  Lisbon  and  proclaims  himself  Regent. 

1835.  Outbreak  of  second  war  with  Seminoles.  Migration  of 
Boers  from  Cape  Colony  begins. 

1836.  Santa  Anna,  President  of  Mexico,  commands  at  siege  and 
storming  of  the  Alamo,  near  San  Antonio,  Texas.  Santa  Anna 
defeated  and  captured,  April  21,  22,  by  Houston,  who  is  elected 
President  of  Texas. 

1837.  Carlist  warfare  in  Spain.  Russians  defeated  in  Caucasus. 
Persians  besiege  Herat. 

1838.  Espartero  defeats  Carlists. 

1839.  Chartist  riots  in  England.  War  between  Turkey  and 
Egypt.     British  invasion  of  Afghanistan. 

1840.  Marriage  of  Queen  Victoria  with  Prince  Albert  of  Saxe- 
Coburg-Gotha.  Louis  Napoleon  at  Boulogne  makes  vain  at- 
tempt at  insurrection.  End  of  the  Carlist  insurrection  in  Spain. 
Outbreak  of  the  opium  war  between  England  and  China. 

1841.  Mehemet  Ali  makes  peace  with  Sultan  of  Turkey,  and  is 
recognized  as  tributary  ruler  of  Egypt.  Afghan  insurrection  and 
massacres. 

1842.  War  with  Seminoles  terminated.  Northeastern  boun- 
dary of  United  States  and  other  disputed  points  settled  by  Ash- 
burton  Treaty  with  England.  British  army  annihilated  by 
Afghans  in  Kurd-Cabul  Pass.  British  occupation  of  Shanghai, 
followed  by  treaty  of  Nankin  and  China's  cession  of  Hong-Kong 
to  England.     The  British  occupy  Natal,  Boer  republic. 

1843.  Sir  Charles  Napier  conquers  Sinde,  which  is  annexed  to 
British  India. 

1845.  Outbreak  of  first  Sikh  war  in  India, 


YORKTOWN,  431 

1846.  War  between  the  United  States  and  Mexico.  The  Amer- 
icans win  the  battles  of  Palo  Alto  and  Resaca  de  la  Palraa,  and 
capture  Monterey.  Northwestern  boundary  of  United  States  set- 
tled by  treaty  with  England.  Sir  Hugh  Gough  defeats  Sikhs, 
who  cede  much  territory  to  the  East  India  Company. 

1847.  The  Mexicans  are  defeated  at  Buena  Vista.  Storming 
of  MoUno  del  Rey  and  Chapultepec,  and  entry  of  the  American 
forces  into  the  City  of  Mexico. 

1848.  Treaty  of  Guadalupe-Hidalgo  between  the  United  States 
and  Mexico.  Formation  of  first  Free-Soil  party  in  United  States. 
Outbreak  of  the  first  Schleswig-Holstein  war  in  Germany,  the 
people  of  the  duchies  rising  in  insurrection  against  the  King  of 
Denmark.  The  Hungarian  Revolution,  under  Kossuth,  begins. 
Abdication  of  Louis  Philippe  in  France.  Insurrections  through- 
out the  Continent.  Chartist  demonstrations  in  England.  France 
adopts  Republican  constitution,  and  Louis  Napoleon  is  elected 
President.  The  Governor  of  Cape  Colony  attacks  the  Boers  of 
Orange  River,  many  of  whom  retire  to  the  Transvaal.  Discovery 
of  gold  in  California. 

1849.  Revolutionary  movements  in  Germany  and  Italy. 
Austrians  defeat  King  of  Sardinia.  The  French  aid  the  papal 
power.  Garibaldi  defeats  Neapolitans.  The  surrender  of  Gorgey 
brings  the  Hungarian  revolution  to  a  close. 

1850.  Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty  concluded  between  United  States 
and  Great  Britain  regarding  water  route  across  Central  America. 
Outbreak  of  Taiping  RebelUon  in  China. 

1851.  Close  of  the  first  Schleswig-Holstein  war.  Coup  d'etat 
in  France.  Louis  Napoleon  dissolves  Assembly,  and  is  elected 
President  for  ten  years. 

1852.  Another  plebiscite  in  France  on  re-establishment  of  em- 
<pire.  Louis  Napoleon  proclaimed  Emperor  as  Napoleon  HI. 
British  victories  in  Burmah. 

1853.  Friction  between  Turkey  and  Russia.  England  and 
France  support  the  Sultan. 

1854.  France  and  England  declare  war  against  Russia  (the 
Crimean  War).  The  aUies  win  the  battles  of  the  Alma,  Balaklava, 
and  Inkerman.  Repeal  of  Missouri  Compromise,  limiting  slave 
territory  in  United  States,  and  passage  of  Kansas-Nebraska  bill 
making  slavery  optional  in  new  territories.  Commodore  Perry,  in 
behalf  of  United  States,  makes  treaty  with  Japan,  providing  for 
commercial  intercourse  with  outer  world. 

1855.  Fall  of  Sebastopol. 

1856.  The  Treaty  of  Paris  terminates  the  Crimean  War.  Civil 
war  in  Kansas. 

1857.  Outbreak  of  the  Sepoy  Mutiny  in  British  India.  The 
massacre  at  Cawnpore,  and  the  relief  of  Lucknow. 


432  YORKTOWN. 

1858.  Suppression  of  the  Sepoy  Mutiny.  Government  of 
India  transferred  to  the  Crown. 

1859.  John  Brown  seizes  Harper's  Ferry,  Virginia,  in  attempt 
to  incite  an  insurrection  among  the  slaves,  and  is  captured  and 
hanged.  Victor  Emanuel,  of  Sardinia,  in  alliance  with  France,  en- 
ters upon  a  war  with  Austria.  The  allies  are  victorious  at  Magenta 
and  Solferino.    The  Treaty  of  Zurich  terminates  the  war. 

1860.  Abraham  Lincoln  elected  President  of  the  United  States. 
Secession  of  South  CaroHna  from  the  American  Union.  The 
victories  of  Garibaldi  extend  the  Italian  dominions  of  Victor 
Emmanuel.     English-French  expedition  occupies  Pekin. 

1861.  Secession  of  Mississippi,  January  9,  rapidly  followed  by 
other  Southern  States.  Confederate  Congress  at  Montgomery, 
Alabama,  elects  Jefferson  Davis  President  of  Confederate  States 
of  America,  February  9.  Abraham  Lincoln  is  inaugurated  as 
President  of  the  United  States,  March  4.  Bombardment  of  Fort 
Sumter  by  the  Confederates,  April  12-14.  First  battle  of  Bull 
Run,  July  21,  results  in  a  Federal  retreat. 

1862.  Engagement  of  the  Monitor  and  the  Merrimac  at  Hampton 
Roads.  Farragut  passes  the  Mississippi  forts,  and  New  Orleans 
falls  into  the  hands  of  the  Federals.  Second  battle  of  Bull  Run, 
resulting  in  a  victory  for  the  Confederates.  Battle  of  Antietam, 
a  Federal  victory,  but  with  heavy  losses.  Battle  of  Fredericks- 
burg, the  Federals  being  repulsed.  France  declares  war  against 
Mexico. 

1863.  Proclamation  of  President  Lincoln  abolishing  slavery. 
The  Confederates  win  the  battle  of  Chancellorsville.  General 
Grant  wins  the  battle  of  Black  River  and  invests  Vicksburg. 
French  troops  occupy  the  City  of  Mexico  and  the  crown  is  offered 
to  the  Archduke  Maximilian  of  Austria. 


VICKSBURG,  433 


CHAPTER  III. 

VICKSBURG    (jANUARY-JULY,   1863). 

In  the  American  Civil  War,  1861-65,  the  capture  of  Vicksburg,  on  the  Missis- 
sippi, cut  the  Confederacy  in  two,  and  the  battle  of  Gettysburg  proved  a  Con- 
federate invasion  of  the  North  impossible.  Out  of  the  many  great  battles  of 
that  war,  it  is  historically  essential  that  these  two  should  be  emphasized. 

After  Fort  Sumter  was  fired  upon,  April  12,  1861,  the  relative  efficiency  of 
the  South  and  the  unpreparedness  of  the  North  were  soon  illustrated  in  the 
battle  of  Bull  Run,  July  21,  1861.  In  the  east,  where  the  main  objective 
point  of  the  Northern  attack  was  Richmond,  there  followed  McClellan's  organ- 
ization of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  In  the  west  were  Halleck  and  Buell,  with 
headquarters  at  St.  Louis  and  Louisville,  and  the  main  end  in  view  in  the  west- 
em  campaign  was  the  control  of  the  Mississippi.  February,  1862,  brought  North- 
ern successes  in  the  western  campaign  in  Grant's  capture  of  Forts  Henry  and 
Donelson,  followed  by  Shiloh,  Corinth,  and  Memphis,  which  opened  the  Mis- 
sissippi to  Vicksburg.  At  the  same  time  Farragut's  fleet  in  the  south  captured 
New  Orleans,  a  victory  which,  like  the  effect  of  the  blockade  throughout  the 
war,  was  a  weighty  demonstration  of  the  influence  of  sea-power  upon  history. 
After  Farragut  had  cleared  the  lower  river,  it  was  practically  Vicksburg  alone 
which  remained  to  unite  the  eastern  and  western  territory  of  the  Confederacy. 
But  in  the  east  there  had  been  a  series  of  Northern  disasters,  culminating  in 
Chancellorsville.— Editor. 

W^HEN  the  defeated  Federals  recrossed  the  Rappahannock, 
May  5,  1863,  after  Chancellorsville,  the  fortunes  of  the  North 
were  at  the  lowest  ebb.  Then  came  the  turning  of  the  tide,  and 
in  an  unexpected  quarter.  General  Grant  had  shot  up  into 
fame  through  his  capture  of  Fort  Donelson,  early  in  1862,  but  had 
done  little  thereafter  to  confirm  his  reputation.  Though  in 
responsible  command  in  northern  Mississippi  and  southwestern 
Tennessee,  the  few  successes  there  which  the  country  could  ap- 
preciate went  to  the  credit  of  his  subordinate,  Rosecrans.  The 
world  remembered  his  shiftlessness  before  the  war,  and  began  to 
believe  that  his  success  had  been  accidentaL  AH  things  con- 
sidered, it  is  strange  that  Grant  had  been  kept  in  place.  The 
pressure  for  his  removal  had  been  great  everywhere,  but  his 
superiors  stood  by  him  faithfully,  though  Lincoln's  persistence 
was  maintained  in  the  midst  of  misgivings. 

In  the  fall  of  1862,  Grant,  in  command  of  fifty  thousand  men, 


434  VWKSBUHG. 

purposed  to  continue  the  advance  southward  through  Mississippi, 
flanking  Vicksburg,  which  then  must  certainly  fall.  His  supplies 
must  come  over  the  Memphis  &  Charleston  road  and  the  two 
weak  and  disabled  lines  of  railroad,  the  Mississippi  Central  and  the 
Mobile  &  Ohio.  To  guard  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  of  railroad 
in  a  hostile  country  the  army  must  necessarily  be  scattered,  as 
every  bridge,  culvert,  and  station  needed  a  detail.  From  Wash- 
ington came  unwise  interference;  but  he  moved  on  with  vigor. 
As  winter  approached,  he  pushed  into  Mississippi  towards  Jack- 
son. If  that  place  could  be  seized,  Vicksburg,  fifty  miles  west, 
must  become  untenable,  and  to  this  end  Grant  desired  to  unite 
his  whole  force.  He  was  overruled,  and  the  troops  divided: 
while  he  marched  on  Jackson,  Sherman,  with  thirty-two  thousand, 
was  to  proceed  down  the  river  from  Memphis.  Grant's  hope 
was  that  he  and  Sherman,  both  near  Vicksburg  and  supporting 
each  other,  might  act  in  concert. 

Complete  failure  attended  this  beginning.  Forrest,  operating 
in  a  friendly  country,  tore  up  the  railroads  in  Grant's  rear  for 
scores  of  miles,  capturing  his  detachments  and  working  destruc- 
tion. On  December  20,  also.  Van  Dorn,  now  a  cavalry  leader, 
surprised  Holly  Springs,  Grant's  main  depot  in  northern  Mis- 
sissippi, carrying  off  and  burning  stores  to  the  amount  of 
$1,500,000.*  Grant's  movement  southward  became  impossible: 
the  army  stood  stripped  and  helpless,  saving  itself  only  by  living 
off  the  country,  an  experience  rough  at  the  time,  but  out  of 
which,  later,  came  benefit. f  Co-operation  with  Sherman  could 
no  longer  be  thought  of.  Nor  could  news  of  the  disaster  be  sent 
to  Sherman,  who,  following  his  orders,  punctually  embarked 
and  steamed  down  to  the  mouth  of  the  Yazoo;  this  he  entered, 
and  on  December  29,  believing  that  the  garrison  of  Vicksburg 
had  been  drawn  off  to  meet  Grant,  he  flung  his  divisions  against 
the  Confederate  lines  at  Chickasaw  Bayou,  with  a  loss  of  eighteen 
hundred  men  and  no  compensating  advantage.  J 

The  difficulty  and  disaster  in  the  Mississippi  campaign  were 
increased  by  a  measure  which  strikingly  reveals  the  effect  in  war 
of  political  pressure  at  the  capital.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  war, 
John  A.  McClernand  was  a  member  of  Congress  from  IlUnois, 
and  later  commanded  a  division  at  Donelson  and  Shiloh.  Re- 
turning to  Washington,  he  stood  out  as  a  War  Democrat,  a  rep- 
resentative of  a  class  whose  adherence  to  the  administration  was 
greatly  strained  by  the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  and  whose 
loyalty  Lincoln  felt  it  was  almost  vital  to  preserve.  When,  there- 

*  War  Records,  Serial  No.  24,  p.  511. 
t  Grant,  Personal  Memoirs,  I.,  411. 
j  Sherman,  Memoirs,  I.,  319. 


VICKSBURG.  435 

fore,  he  laid  before  Lincoln  a  scheme*  to  raise  by  his  own  in- 
fluence a  large  force  in  the  West,  over  which  he  was  to  have 
military  command,  with  the  intention  of  taking  Vicksburg,  Lin- 
coln and  Stanton  yielded,  the  sequel  showing  that  McClernand 
was  a  soldier  of  little  merit.  .  .  . 

McClernand  went  West,  and  kept  his  promise  by  mustering  into 
the  service,  chiefly  through  his  personal  influence,  some  thirty 
regiments,  a  welcome  recruitment  in  those  dark  days.  With  this 
new  army  McClernand  appeared  at  the  mouth  of  the  Yazoo  just 
at  the  moment  when  Sherman  emerged  from  the  swamps  with  his 
crestfallen  divisions.  McClernand  assumed  command,  Sherman 
subsiding  into  a  subordinate  place;  but  he  had  influence  enough 
with  his  new  superior  to  persuade  him  to  proceed  at  once  to  an 
attack  upon  Arkansas  Post,  not  far  away.f  This  measure  proved 
successful,  the  place  capitulating  January  11,  1863,  with  five 
thousand  men  and  seventeen  guns.  Though  the  victory  was  due 
in  great  part  to  the  navy,  Sherman  alone  in  the  army  having  ren- 
dered conspicuous  service,  yet  before  the  country  the  credit  went 
to  McClernand,  nominally  the  commander,  giving  him  an  un- 
deserved prestige  which  made  the  situation  worse. 

Grant  often  found  Halleck  very  trying;  but  in  the  present  ex- 
igency the  superior  stood  stoutly  by  him,  and  probably  saved  to 
him  his  position.  The  military  sense  of  the  general-in-chief  saw 
clearly  the  folly  of  a  divided  command,  and  he  enlightened  the 
president,  who  made  Grant  major-general  in  command  of  opera- 
tions on  the  Mississippi,  McClernand  being  put  at  the  head  of  a 
corps.  January  30,  therefore.  Grant,  suppressing  a  scheme  en- 
tertained by  McClernand  for  a  campaign  in  Arkansas,  set  to  work 
to  solve  the  problem  of  opening  the  great  river. 

Probably  few  generals  have  ever  encountered  a  situation  more 
difficult,  or  one  in  which  military  precedents  helped  so  little. 
The  fortress  occupied  a  height  commanding  on  the  north  and 
west,  along  the  river,  swampy  bottom-lands,  at  the  moment 
largely  submerged  or  threaded  with  channels.  These  lowlands 
were  much  overgrown  with  canebrake  and  forest;  roads  there 
were  almost  none,  the  plantations  established  within  the  area 
being  approached  most  conveniently  by  boats.  But  it  was  from 
the  north  and  west,  apparently,  that  Vicksburg  must  be  assailed, 
for  the  region  south  of  the  city  appeared  quite  beyond  reach, 
since  the  batteries  closed  the  river,  which  seemed  the  sole  means 
of  approach  for  northern  forces.  The  surest  approach  to  the 
stronghold  was  from  the  east;  but  there  Grant  had  tried  and  failed; 
public  sentiment  would  not  sustain  another  movement  from  that 

*  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Abraham  Lincoln,  VIL,  135. 
t  Sherman,  Memoirs,  L,  324. 


436  VICKSBURO, 

side.  There  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  try  by  the  north  and  west, 
and  Grant  grappled  with  the  problem. 

Besides  the  natural  obstacles,  he  had  to  take  account  of  his 
own  forces  and  the  strength  and  character  of  his  adversary.  In 
November,  1862,  Johnston,  not  yet  recovered  from  the  wounds 
received  at  Fair  Oaks  in  May,  was  ordered  to  assume  command 
in  the  west,  taking  the  troops  of  Kirby  Smith,  Bragg,  and  the 
army  defending  the  Mississippi.  The  latter  force,  up  to  that  time 
under  Van  Dorn,  was  transferred  to  John  C.  Pemberton,  of  an 
old  Pennsylvania  family,  before  and  after  the  war  a  citizen  of 
Philadelphia.  Though  a  Northerner,  he  had  the  entire  confidence 
of  both  Jefferson  Davis  and  Robert  E.  Lee.  His  record  in  the 
old  army  was  good;  he  was  made  lieutenant-general  by  the  Con- 
federacy, and  received  most  weighty  responsibilities.  He  served 
bravely  and  faithfully  the  cause  he  had  espoused;  though  out- 
classed in  his  campaign,  he  did  not  lack  ability.  Pemberton 
commanded  some  fifty  thousand  men,  comprising  not  only  the 
garrison  of  Vicksburg,  but  also  that  of  Port  Hudson,  and  de- 
tachments posted  in  northern  Mississippi.  On  the  watch  at  such 
a  point  as  Jackson,  the  state  capital,  he  could,  on  short  notice, 
concentrate  his  scattered  command  to  meet  whatever  danger 
might  threaten. 

Against  this  alert  adversary  Grant  could  now  oppose  about  an 
equal  number  of  men,  comprised  in  four  corps — the  Thirteenth 
(McClernand),  Fifteenth  (Sherman),  Sixteenth  (Hurlbut),  Seven- 
teenth (McPherson).  Hurlbut  was  of  necessity  retained  at  and 
near  Memphis,  to  preserve  communications  and  hold  western 
Tennessee;  the  three  other  corps  could  take  the  field  with  about 
forty-three  thousand.  Among  Grant's  lieutenants,  two  were 
soldiers  of  the  best  quality — Sherman  and  James  B.  McPherson, 
the  latter  a  young  officer  of  engineers,  who  during  the  preceding 
months  had  been  coming  rapidly  to  the  front.*  Besides  the 
army,  Grant  had  a  powerful  auxiliary  in  the  fleet,  which  now 
numbered  seventy  craft,  large  and  small,  manned  by  fifty-five 
hundred  sailors  and  commanded  by  David  D.  Porter,  an  inde- 
fatigable chief. 

Grant  at  the  outset  could,  of  course,  have  no  fixed  plan. 
Throughout  February  and  March  his  operations  were  tentative; 
and  though  the  country  murmured  at  his  "inactivity,"  never  did 
general  or  army  do  harder  work.  Might  not  Vicksburg  perhaps 
be  isolated  on  the  west,  and  a  way  be  found  beyond  the  reach  of 
its  cannon  to  that  vantage-ground  south  of  it  which  seemed  so 
inaccessible?  Straightway  the  army  tried,  with  spade,  pick, 
and  axe,  to  complete  the  cut-off  which  Williams  had  begun  the 

*CuIlum,  Register  of  Mil,  Acad.,  art.,  McPherson. 


VICKSBURG,  437 

previous  summer;  also  to  open  a  tortuous  and  embarrassed  pas- 
sage far  round  through  Lake  Providence  and  the  Tensas  and 
Washita  rivers.  Might  not  some  insufficiently  guarded  approach 
be  found  through  the  Yazoo  bottom*  to  Haines's  Bluff,  the 
height  dominating  Vicksburg  from  the  northeast,  which  Sherman 
had  sought  to  seize  at  Chickasaw  Bayou?  Straightway  there 
were  enterprises  seldom  attempted  in  war.f  The  levee  at  Yazoo 
Pass  was  cut,  far  up  the  river,  so  that  the  swollen  Mississippi 
flooded  the  wide  region  below.  Through  the  crevasse  plunged 
gun-boat  and  transport,  to  engage  in  amphibious  warfare;  soldiers 
wading  in  the  mire  or  swimming  the  bayous;  divisions  struggUng 
to  terra  firma,  only  to  find  that  Pemberton  was  there  before  them 
behind  unassailable  parapets;  gun-boats  wedged  in  ditches,  un- 
able to  turn,  with  hostile  axemen  blocking  both  advance  and  re- 
treat by  felling  trees  across  the  channel;  Porter  sheltering  himself 
from  sharp-shooters  within  a  section  of  broken  smokestack  and 
meditating  the  blowing-up  of  his  boats;  Sherman  now  paddling 
in  a  canoe,  now  riding  bareback,  now  joining  the  men  of  a  rescue- 
party  in  a  double-quick — all  in  cypress  forests  draped  with 
funereal  moss,  as  if  Death  had  made  ready  for  a  calamity  that 
seemed  certain. 

April  came,  and  nothing  had  been  accomplished  on  the  north 
or  west.  To  try  again  from  the  east  meant  summary  removal 
for  the  commander.  Was  an  attack  from  the  south,  after  all,  out 
of  the  queston,  as  all  his  lieutenants  urged?  Grant  resolved 
to  try;  the  river-bank  to  the  west  was  so  far  dried  that  the  passage 
of  a  column  through  the  swamp-roads  became  possible.  Porter 
was  wilHng  to  attempt  to  run  the  batteries,  though  sure  that,  if 
once  below,  he  could  never  return.  The  night  of  April  16  was  one 
of  wild  excitements.  The  fleet  was  discovered  as  soon  as  it  got 
under  way,  and  conflagrations,  blazing  right  and  left,  clearly 
revealed  it  as  it  swept  down  the  stream.  The  Confederate  fire 
could  not  be  concentrated,!  and  hence  the  injury  was  small  to  the 
armored  craft;  and  even  the  transports  in  their  company,  pro- 
tected only  by  baled  hay  or  cotton,  escaped  with  one  exception. 
A  few  days  later  transports  and  barges  again  passed  down.  § 
The  column,  toiling  along  the  swampy  road,  was  met,  when  at 
last  it  reached  a  point  well  below  the  town,  by  an  abundance  of 
supplies  and  ample  means  for  placing  it  on  the  other  bank.  April 
29,  Grand  Gulf,  the  southern  outpost  of  Vicksburg,  was  can- 
nonaded, with  ten  thousand  men  on  transports  at  hand  for  an 

*  War  Records,  Serial  No.  36,  pp.  371-467. 
t  Mahan,  Gulf  and  Inland  Waters,  110  et  seq. 
X  Johnston,  Narrative,  152. 
§  War  Records,  Serial  No.  36^  pp.  565  et  seq. 


438  VICKSBURG. 

assault,  if  the  chance  came.  High  on  its  bluff,  it  defied  the  bom- 
bardment, as  the  main  citadel  had  done.  Then  it  was  that  Grant 
turned  to  his  last  resource. 

It  requires  attention  to  comprehend  how  a  plan  so  audacious  as 
that  now  adopted  could  succeed.  First,  the  watchful  Pemberton 
was  bewildered  and  misled  as  to  the  point  of  attack.  About  the 
time  the  batteries  were  run,  Grierson,  an  Illinois  officer,  starting 
with  seventeen  hundred  cavalry  from  La  Grange,  Tennessee,  raid- 
ed completely  through  Mississippi,  from  north  to  south,  so  skil- 
fully creating  an  impression  of  large  numbers,  so  effectively 
wrecking  railroads  and  threatening  incursion  now  here  and  now 
there,  that  the  back-country  was  thrown  into  a  panic,  and  Pem- 
berton thought  an  attack  in  force  from  that  direction  possible. 
Following  close  upon  Grierson's  raid,  Sherman  demonstrated  with 
such  noise  and  parade  north  of  the  city  that  Pemberton  sent 
troops  to  meet  a  possible  assault  there.  Meantime,  the  Thirteenth 
and  Seventeenth  corps  were  ferried  rapidly  across  the  river  below 
Grand  Gulf,  and,  a  footing  on  the  upland  having  been  obtained 
unopposed.  Grant  stood  fairly  on  the  left  bank.  He  now  sent 
word  to  Halleck  that  he  felt  this  battle  was  more  than  half  won.* 

The  event  proved  that  Grant  was  not  oversanguine.  An  easy 
victory  at  Port  Gibson,  over  a  brave  but  inferior  force,  gave  him 
Grand  Gulf.  Joined  now  by  Sherman,  he  plunged  with  his  three 
corps  into  the  interior,  cutting  loose  from  his  river  base,  and  also 
from  his  hampering  connection  with  Washington.  The  previous 
fall  he  had  learned  to  Hve  off  the  country.  Two  more  easy  vic- 
tories, at  Raymond  and  Jackson,  gave  him  the  state  capital,  and 
placed  him,  fully  concentrated,  between  the  armies  of  Pemberton 
and  Johnston.  The  number  of  his  foes  was  swelling  fast — from 
Port  Hudson,  from  South  Carolina,  from  Tennessee;  but  Grant 
did  not  let  slip  his  advantage.  Johnston,  not  yet  recovered  from 
his  Fair  Oaks  wound,  was  not  at  his  best.  Pemberton,  confused 
by  an  adversary  who  could  do  so  unmilitary  a  thing  as  to  throw 
away  his  base,  vacillated  and  blundered.  A  heavy  battle  at 
Champion's  Hill,  May  16,  in  which  the  completeness  of  Grant's 
victory  was  prevented  by  the  bad  conduct  of  McClernand,  never- 
theless resulted  in  Pemberton's  precipitate  ffight.  Next  day  the 
Federals  seized  the  crossing  of  the  Big  Black  River,  after  which 
all  the  outposts  of  Vicksburg,  from  Haines's  Bluff  southward,  fell 
without  further  fighting,  and  Pemberton,  with  the  army  that 
remained  to  him,  was  shut  up  within  the  works.  The  Federals 
held  all  outside,  looking  down  from  those  heights,  which  for  so 
long  had  seemed  to  them  impregnable,  upon  the  great  river  open 
to  the  north.     Supplies  and  reinforcements  could  now  come  un- 

*  War  Records,  Serial  No.  36,  p.  32. 


VICKSBURG. 


439 


hindered  and  were  already  pouring  in.     The  fall  of  Vicksburg  was 
certain,  .  .  . 

The  siege  once  begun,  the  fortress  was  doomed  without  recourse. 
Pemberton,  to  be  sure,  did  not  lose  heart,  and  drove  back  the 
repeated  Federal  assaults  with  skill  and  courage.     Johnston,  from 


C/-^'  GRANT'S  h 
•*"       HD.  QRS.,  r 


SIEGE    OF    VICKSBURG. 

the  rear,  mustered  men  as  he  could,  tried  to  concert  with  the  be- 
sieged army  a  project  of  escape,  and  at  last  advanced  to  attack. 
But  within  the  city  supplies  soon  failed,  and  outside  no  resources 
were  at  hand  for  the  city's  succor.  Johnston's  request  for  twenty- 
thousand  men,  lying  idle  in  Arkansas,  had  been  slighted:*  there 

*  Johnston,  Narrative,  153. 


440  VICKSBURG. 

was  no  other  source  of  supply.  Kirby  Smith  and  Dick  Taylor 
attempted  a  diversion  on  the  west  bank  of  the  river;  and  still 
later,  at  Helena,  Arkansas,  a  desperate  push  was  made  to  afford 
relief.  It  was  all  in  vain.  The  North,  made  cheerful  by  long- 
delayed  success,  poured  forth  to  Grant  out  of  its  abundance  both 
men  and  means.  His  army  was  in  size  nearly  doubled ;  food  and 
munitions  abounded.  The  starving  defenders  were  ineatorably 
encircled  by  nearly  three  times  their  number  of  well-suppliel  and 
triumphant  foes.  Grant's  assaults,  bold  and  bloody  though  they 
were,  had  little  effect  in  bringing  about  the  result;  the  close  in- 
vestment would  have  sufficed.*  On  July  4  came  the  uncon- 
ditional surrender.  The  Confederate  losses  before  the  surrender 
were  fully  10,000;  now  29,491  became  prisoners,  while  in  the  for- 
tress were  170  cannon  and  50,000  small  arms.  Grant's  loss  dur- 
ing the  whole  campaign  was  9362. f 

To  this  triumph,  a  week  later,  was  added  the  fall  of  Port 
Hudson,  J  which,  with  a  depleted  garrison,  held  out  stubbornly 
for  six  weeks  against  the  Federals.  N.  P.  Banks,  who  after 
his  tragical  Virginia  experiences  succeeded,  in  December,  1862, 
Butler  in  Louisiana,  was  set,  as  in  the  valley,  to  meet  a  difficult 
situation  with  inadequate  means.  With  an  army  of  little  more 
than  thirty  thousand,  in  part  nine-months'  men,  he  was  expected 
to  hold  New  Orleans  and  such  of  Louisiana  as  had  been  con- 
quered, and  also  to  co-operate  with  Grant  in  opening  the  Missis- 
sippi. When  his  garrisons  had  been  placed  he  had  scarcely 
fifteen  thousand  men  left  for  service  in  the  field,  a  number  ex- 
ceeded at  first  by  the  Port  Hudson  defenders,  strongly  placed  and 
well  commanded.  West  of  the  river,  moreover,  was  still  another 
force  under  an  old  adversary  in  the  Shenandoah  country — Dick 
Taylor,  a  general  well-endowed  and  trained  in  the  best  school. 
That  Banks,  though  active,  had  no  brilliant  success,  was  not  at 
all  strange ;  yet  Halleck  found  fault.  He  could  not  extend  a  hand 
to  Grant;  but,  risking  his  communications — risking,  indeed,  the 
possession  of  New  Orleans — he  concentrated  at  Port  Hudson, 
which  fortress,  after  a  six  weeks'  siege,  marked  by  two  spirited 

*  Admiral  Porter's  fleet  kept  up  a  continuous  bombardment  for  forty  days. 
Seven  thousand  mortar  shells  and  4500  shells  from  the  gun-boats  were  dis- 
charged at  the  city.  As  Grant  drew  his  lines  closer,  his  cannonade  was  kept  up 
day  and  night.  The  people  of  Vicksburg  had  taken  shelter  in  caves  dug  in  the 
clay  hills  on  which  the  city  stands.  In  these  caves  families  lived  day  and 
night,  and  children  were  bom.  Famine  attacked  the  city,  and  mule-meat  made 
a  savory  dish.  Grant  mined  under  some  of  the  Confederate  works,  and  one 
of  them,  Fort  Hill  Bastion,  was  blown  up  on  June  25  with  terrible  effect.— 
Harper's  Encyclopaedia  of  United  States  History. 

t  War  Records,  Serial  No.  37,  pp.  146-424. 

t  Ibid.,  Serial  No.  41,  pp.  41-181  (Port  Hudson). 


VICKSBURG.  441 

assaults,  he  brought  to  great  distress.  Its  fate  was  sealed  by  the 
fall  of  Vicksburg — Gardner,  the  commander,  on  July  9,  surrender- 
ing the  post  with  more  than  six  thousand  men  and  fifty-one  guns. 
The  capture  of  Vicksburg  and  Port  Hudson  was  a  success  such 
as  had  not  been  achieved  before  during  our  Civil  War,  and  was 
not  paralleled  afterwards  until  Appomattox.  In  military  his- 
tory there  are  few  achievements  which  equal  it;  and  the  magni- 
tude of  the  captures  of  men  and  resources  is  no  more  remarkable 
than  are  the  unfailing  courage  of  the  soldiers  and  the  genius  and 
vigor  of  the  general.* 

*  Greene,  The  Mississippi. 


442  GETTYSBURG. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

GETTYSBURG,  JULY   1-3,    1863. 

In  the  eastern  field  of  operations  in  the  American  Civil  War,  McClellan's 
organization  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  had  given  him  a  well-disciplined 
army,  with  which  he  was  facing  General  Joseph  Johnston  at  the  opening  of  1862. 
But  the  Peninsular  Campaign  which  McClellan  entered  upon  early  in  the  year, 
with  the  bloody  fighting  at  Fair  Oaks  in  May,  and  the  Seven  Days'  Battles 
in  May  and  June,  resulted  in  the  withdrawal  of  the  Northern  forces.  There 
followed  Pope's  defeat  near  Bull  Run.  The  forward  movement  was  a  failure. 
The  Northern  forces,  only  four  miles  from  Richmond  in  June,  were  practically 
defending  Washington  in  September.  The  desperate  battle  of  Antietam 
checked  Lee's  movement  into  Maryland,  but  was  not  decisive.  Burnside's 
costly  defeat  at  Fredericksburg  iv  December  closed  a  gloomy  year  in  the 
east,  which  to  many  seemed  to  show  that  the  South  could  more  than  hold  its 
own.  The  new  year  brought  a  renewal  of  disaster  to  the  Northern  arms  in 
Hooker's  defeat  in  the  hard-fought  battle  of  Chancellorsville.  But  the  tide 
was  to  be  turned  by  one  of  the  crucial  events  of  military  history,  which  was 
close  at  hand.— Editor. 

The  fall  of  Vicksburg,  though  a  terrible  blow  to  the  South,  was 
not  a  sudden  one:  to  all  inteUigent  eyes  it  had  for  some  weeks 
been  impending;  but  that  Lee  could  be  defeated  seemed  a  thing 
impossible.  Because  so  long  unconquered,  it  had  come  to  be 
accepted  that  he  was  unconquerable. 

Hooker  soon  recovered  from  the  daze  into  which  he  had  been 
thrown  at  Chancellorsville.  His  confidence  in  himself  was  not 
broken  by  his  misfortune.  Instead  of,  like  Burnside,  manfully 
shouldering  most  of  the  responsibility  of  his  failure,  Hooker  ve- 
hemently accused  his  lieutenants  of  misconduct,  and  faced  the 
new  situation  with  as  much  resolution  as  if  he  had  the  prestige 
of  a  victor.  The  Army  of  the  Potomac,  never  down  in  heart 
except  for  a  moment,  plucked  up  courage  forthwith  and  girded 
itself  for  new  encounters. 

The  South,  meanwhile,  was  still  rejoicing  over  Chancellorsville, 
for  the  cloud  on  the  southwestern  horizon  was  at  first  no  bigger 
than  a  man's  hand.  Longstreet  joined  Lee  from  Suffolk  with 
two  divisions,  swelling  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  to  eighty 
thousand  or  more.     Never  before  had  it  been  so  numerous,  so 


GETTYSBURG.  443 

well  appointed,  or  in  such  good  heart.  The  numerical  advantage 
which  the  Federals  had  heretofore  enjoyed  was  at  this  time  nearly 
gone,  because  thousands  of  enlistments  expired  which  could  not 
inmiediately  be  made  good:  volunteering  had  nearly  ceased,  and 
the  new  schemes  for  recruiting  were  not  yet  effective. 

Lee  took  the  initiative  early  in  June,*  full  of  the  sense  of  the 
advantage  to  be  gained  from  a  campaign  on  Northern  soil.  War- 
worn Virginia  was  to  receive  a  respite;  Baltimore,  Philadelphia, 
New  York,  as  well  as  Washington,  might  be  terrorized,  and  per- 
haps captured.  If  only  the  good-fortune  so  far  enjoyed  would 
continue,  the  Union's  military  strength  might  be  completely 
wrecked,  hesitating  Europe  won  over  to  recognition,  and  the 
cause  of  the  South  made  secure. 

With  these  fine  and  not  at  all  extravagant  anticipations,  Lee 
put  in  motion  his  three  great  corps  under  the  lieutenant-generals 
Ewell  (Jackson's  successor),  Longstreet,  and  A.  P.  Hill.  Long- 
street  was  ill  at  ease.  Vicksburg,  now  in  great  danger,  he  thought 
could  only  be  saved  by  reinforcing  Bragg  and  advancing  rapidly 
on  Cincinnati,  in  which  case  Grant  might  be  drawn  north.  Not- 
withstanding Longstreet's  urgency,  Lee  persisted. f  Ewell,  pour- 
ing suddenly  down  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  "gobbled  up,"  as 
Lincoln  put  it,  Milroy  and  his  whole  command  of  some  four 
thousand,  June  13,  and  presently  from  Maryland  invaded  Penn- 
sylvania. Longstreet  was  close  behind :  while  the  head  of  Ewell's 
column  had  been  nearing  the  Potomac,  A.  P.  Hill,  who  had  re- 
mained at  Fredericksburg  to  watch  Hooker,  as  yet  inactive  on 
Stafford  Heights,  broke  camp  and  followed  northwestward. 
Ewell  seized  Chambersburg  a  few  days  later,  then  appeared  at 
CarHsle,  and  even  shook  Harrisburg  with  his  cannon.  The 
North  had,  indeed,  cause  for  alarm;  the  farmers  of  the  invaded 
region  were  in  a  panic.  "Emergency  men,"  enlisted  for  three 
months,  gathered  from  New  York,  Ohio,  West  Virginia,  and 
Pennsylvania  to  the  threatened  points.  The  great  coast  cities 
were  face  to  face  with  a  menace  hitherto  unexperienced.  Were 
they  really  about  to  be  sacked?    What  was  to  be  done? 

There  was  no  indecision,  either  at  Washington  or  in  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac.  Lincoln's  horse-sense,  sometimes  tripping,  but 
oftener  adequate  to  deal  with  unparalleled  burdens,  homely,  terse, 
and  unerring  in  its  expression,  was  at  its  best  in  these  days. 
To  Hooker,  meditating  movements  along  and  across  the  Rappa- 
hannock, he  wrote:  "  I  would  not  take  any  risk  of  being  entangled 
upon  the  river  like  an  ox  jumped  half  over  a  fence,  and  liable  to 

*  War  Records,  Serial  Nos.  43  and  44,  pp.  1-775  (all  on  Gettysburg  cam- 
paign), 
t  Longstreet,  Manassas  to  Appomattox,  331. 


444  GETTYSBURG.  ■■ 

be  torn  by  dogs  in  front  and  rear  without  a  fair  chance  to  gore 
one  way  or  kick  the  other."  *  And  again:  "If  the  head  of  Lee's 
army  is  at  Martinsburg  (near  the  Potomac),  and  the  tail  of  it  on 
the  plank-road  between  Fredericksburg  and  Chancellorsville,  the 
animal  must  be  very  slim  somewhere.  Could  you  not  break 
him?"  "Fret  him  and  fret  him,"  was  the  President's  injunction 
to  Hooker,  regarding  the  advance  of  Lee.  Well-poised,  good- 
humored,  constant,  Lincoln  gave  no  counsel  to  Hooker  in  these 
days  that  was  not  sound. 

Indeed,  at  this  time,  Hooker  needed  little  admonition.  Alert 
and  resourceful,  he  no  sooner  detected  the  movement  of  Lee  than 
he  suggested  an  advance  upon  Richmond,  which  was  thus  left 
unguarded.  Lee,  of  course,  had  contemplated  the  possibility  of 
such  a  move,  and,  with  a  nod  towards  Washington,  had  joked 
about  "swapping  queens."  The  idea,  which  Hooker  did  not 
press,  being  disapproved.  Hooker,  turning  towards  Lee,  proceeded 
to  "fret  him  and  fret  him,"  his  conduct  comparing  well  with  his 
brilliant  management  at  the  opening  of  the  campaign  of  Chan- 
cellorsville. The  cavalry,  greatly  improved  by  him,  under 
Pleasonton,  with  divisions  commanded  by  Buford,  Duffie,  and 
Gregg,  was  serviceable  as  never  before,  matching  well  the  troopers 
of  Stuart  at  Brandy  Station,  Aldie,  and  Middleburg.  Screened 
on  his  left  flank  by  his  cavalry,  as,  on  the  other  hand,  Lee  was 
screened  by  a  similar  body  on  his  right.  Hooker  marched  in  columns 
parallel  to  those  of  his  foe  and  farther  east,  yet  always  inter- 
posing between  the  enemy  and  Washington.  As  June  drew 
to  its  end  the  Confederate  advance  was  near  Harrisburg,  but  the 
Federals  were  not  caught  napping.  Hooker  stood  at  Frederick, 
in  Maryland,  his  corps  stretched  on  either  hand  to  cover  Wash- 
ington and  Baltimore,  touching  hands  one  with  the  other,  and 
all  confronting  the  foe. 

Lee's  previous  campaigns  had  shown  with  what  disregard  of 
military  rules  he  could  act,  a  recklessness  up  to  this  time  justified 
by  good  luck  and  the  ineptitude  of  his  adversaries.  Still  con- 
temptuous of  risks,  he  made  just  here  an  audacious  move  which 
was  to  result  unfortunately. f  He  ordered,  or  perhaps  suffered, 
Stuart,  whom  as  he  drew  towards  the  Potomac  he  had  held  close 
on  his  right  flank,  to  undertake  with  the  cavalry  a  raid  around  the 
Federal  army,  after  the  precedents  of  the  Peninsular  and  Second 
Bull  Run  campaigns.  Casting  loose  from  his  chief,  June  25, 
Stuart  sallied  out  eastward  and  penetrated  close  to  the  neighbor- 

*  War  Records,  Serial  No.  45,  p.  31. 

t  F.  H.  Lee,  Robert  E.  Lee,  265.  For  R.  E.  Lee's  report  of  Gettysburg,  see 
War  Records,  Serial  No.  44,  pp.  293  et  seq.;  Long,  Lee,  280. 


GETTYSBURG,  445 

hood  of  Washington.  He  did  no  harm  beyond  making  a  few 
small  captm-es  and  causing  a  useless  scare;  on  the  other  hand,  he 
suffered  terrible  fatigue,  his  exhausted  men  falling  asleep  almost 
by  squadrons  in  their  saddles.  He  could  get  no  news  from  his 
friends,  nor  could  he  find  EwelPs  corps,  which  he  had  hoped  to 
meet.  Quite  worn  out  with  hardship,  he  did  not  become  available 
to  Lee  until  the  late  afternoon  of  July  2.  A  critical  battle  might 
have  had  a  different  issue*  had  the  Confederate  cavalry  been 
in  its  proper  place.  It  was  almost  by  chance,  through  a  scout 
of  Longstreet's,  that  Lee,  at  Chambersburg,  all  uncertain  of  the 
Federal  movement,  heard  at  last  that  his  enemy  was  close  at  hand 
and  threatening  his  communications.  At  once  he  withdrew 
Ewell  southward,  so  that  he  might  face  the  danger  with  his  three 
divisions  together. 

Meantime,  a  most  critical  change  came  about  in  the  camp  of 
his  foes.  Hooker,  on  ill  terms  with  Halleck,  and  engaged  in 
controversy  with  him  over  Halleck's  refusal  to  authorize  the 
withdrawal  of  the  garrison  of  Harper's  Ferry,  rather  petulantly 
asked  to  be  relieved  of  command,  and  the  president  complied  at 
once.  Such  promptness  was  to  be  expected.  Hooker  had  been 
doing  well;  but  he  had  done  just  as  well  before  Chancellors ville ; 
he  was  generally  distrusted;  his  best  subordinates  were  outspoken 
as  to  his  lamentable  record.  The  unsparing  critic  of  Burnside 
had  now  to  take  his  own  medicine.  A  battle  with  Lee  could  not 
be  ventured  upon  under  a  commander  who  could  not  keep  on 
good  terms  with  the  administration,  had  there  been  nothing  else. 
It  was  perilous  swapping  of  horses  in  the  midst  of  the  stream,  but 
Lincoln  was  forced  to  do  it.  Some  cried  out  for  the  restoration 
of  McClellan,  and  others  for  that  of  Fremont.  The  appointment 
fell  to  George  Gordon  Meade,  commander  of  the  Fifth  Corps,  who, 
with  soldierly  dignity,  obeyed  orders,  assuming  the  burden  June 
28,  with  a  pledge  to  do  his  best. 

Meade,  a  West-Pointer  of  1835,t  was  a  man  of  ripe  experience, 
thoroughly  trained  in  war.  He  had  first  risen  leading  a  brigade 
of  the  Pennsylvania  reserves  at  Mechanicsville,  just  a  year 
earlier.  The  good  name  then  won  he  confirmed  at  Antietam,  and 
still  more  at  Fredericksburg.  He  was  tall  and  spare,  with  an 
eagle  face  which  no  one  that  saw  it  can  forget,  a  perfect  horseman, 
and,  though  irascible,  possessed  of  strong  and  manly  character. 
In  that  momentous  hour  the  best  men  were  doubtful  on  what 
footing  they  stood.  When  Lincoln's  messenger,  with  a  solemn 
countenance,  handed  to  Meade  the  appointment,  he  took  it  to 

*  But  see  controversy  between  Mosby  and  Robertson  as  to  management  of 
the  Confederate  cavalry,  Battles  and  Leaders,  III.,  251. 
t  Cullum,  Register  of  Mil.  Acad.,  art.,  Meade. 


446 


GETTYSBURG. 


be  an  order  for  his  arrest.  Placed  in  command,  he  hesitated  not  a 
moment,  building  his  strategy  upon  the  foundation  laid  by  his 
predecessor. 

Meade  had  with  him  in  the  field  seven  corps  of  infantry:  the 
First,  commanded  temporarily  by  Doubleday;  the  Second,  by 
Hancock,  recently  promoted;  the  Third,  by  Sickles;  the  Fifth,  his 
own  corps,  now  turned  over  to  Sykes;  the  Sixth,  Sedgwick,  fort- 
unately not  displaced,  though  so  unjustly  censured  for  his  noble 
work  on  May  3;  the  Eleventh,  Howard;  and  the  Twelfth,  Slocum. 
The  excellent  cavalry  divisions  were  under  Buford,  Kilpatrick, 


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POSITIONS   OF   FEDERAL  AND   CONFEDERATE  ARMIES,  JUNE  30,   1863, 

AT   SUNSET. 

Federal,   CD        Confederate,  I 

and  Gregg;  and  in  the  lower  places  capable  young  officers — Custer, 
Merritt,  Farnsworth,  Devin,  Gamble — were  pushing  into  notice. 
Of  field-guns  there  were  340.  It  was  a  fault  of  the  Union  organ- 
ization that  corps,  divisions,  and  brigades  were  too  small,  bring- 
ing about,  among  other  evils,  too  large  a  number  of  general  and 
staff  officers.*  The  Confederates  here  were  wiser.  Lee  faced 
Meade's  seven  corps  with  but  three,  and  293  guns;  but  each  Con- 
federate corps  was  nearly  or  quite  twice  as  large  as  a  Union  corps; 


*  Hunt,  in  Battles  and  Leaders,  III.,  258. 


GETTYSBURG. 


447 


OPENING  OF  BATTLE  OF  GET- 
TYSBURG, JULY  1,  8  A.M. 


divisions  and  brigades  were  in  the  same  relative  proportion.  The 
Ai-my  of  the  Potomac  numbered  88,289  effectives;  the  Army  of 
Northern  Virginia,  75,000.* 

Meade  at  once  chose  and  caused  to  be  surveyed  a  position  on 
Pipe  Creek,  just  south  of  the  Maryland  line,  as  a  field  suitable  to 
be  held  should  the  enemy  come  that 
way.  He  marched,  however,  north- 
westward cautiously,  his  corps  in 
touch  but  spread  wide  apart,  ready 
for  battle  and  protecting  as  ever 
the  capital  and  cities  of  the  coast. f 
His  especial  reUance  in  this  hour  of 
need  was  John  F.  Reynolds,  hand  in 
hand  with  whom  he  had  proceeded 
in  his  career  from  the  day  when, 
as  fellow -brigadiers,  they  repulsed 
A.  P.  Hill  at  Beaver  Dam  Creek. 
This  man  he  trusted  completely  and 
loved  much.  He  warmly  approved 
Hooker's  action  in  committing  to  Reynolds  the  left  wing  nearest  the 
enemy,  made  up  of  the  First,  Third,  and  Eleventh  corps.  This  made 
Reynolds  second  in  command.  Meade,  commander-in-chief,  re- 
tained the  centre  and  right.  So  the  armies  hovered,  each  uncertain 
of  the  other's  exact  whereabouts  during  the  last  days  of  June. 

On  July  1,  though  Stuart  for  the  moment  was  out  of  the  cam- 
paign, the  Federal  cavalry  was  on  hand.  Buford's  division, 
thrown  out  from  the  Federal  left,  moved  well  forward  north  of 
the  town  of  Gettysburg,  and  were  met  by  Heth's  division  of  Hill's 
corps,  marching  forward,  it  is  said,  with  no  more  hostile  purpose 
at  the  time  than  that  of  getting  shoes. |  Buford  held  his  line 
vahantly,  being  presently  joined  by  Reynolds.  The  two,  from 
the  cupola  of  the  seminary  near  by,  studied  the  prospect  hurriedly. 
A  stand  must  be  made  then  and  there,  and  the  First  Corps,  close 
at  hand,  was  presently  in  support  of  the  bold  horsemen,  who,  dis- 
mounted, were  with  their  carbines  blocking  the  advance  of  the 
hostile  infantry. 

The  most  irreparable  and  lamentable  loss  of  the  entire  battle 
now  occurred  at  the  very  outset.  Reynolds  fell  dead  at  the 
front,  leaving  the  left  divisions  without  a  leader  in  the  most 
critical  hour.  Heth's  advance  was  roughly  handled;  one  bri- 
gade was  mostly  captured,  Doubleday  nodding,  with  a  pleasant 
''Good-morning,  I  am  glad  to  see  you,"  to  its  commander,  his 


*  Livermore,  Numbers  and  Losses,  102. 

fWar  Records,  Serial  No.  43,  pp.  104-119  (Report  of  Meade). 

X  F.  H.  Lee,  Robert  E.  Lee,  270. 


448 


GETTYSBURG. 


old  West  Point  chum  Archer,  as  the  latter  was  passed  to  the  rear 
among  the  prisoners.*  There  were  still  other  captures  and 
much  fighting;  but  Ewell  was  fast  arriving  by  the  roads  from  the 
north;  and  although  Howard,  with  the  Eleventh  Corps,  came  up 
from  the  south  at  the  same  time,  the  heavier  Confederate  bat- 
talions could  not  be  held.  Barlow,  thrown  out  far  forward  into 
Ewell's  path,  was  at  once  badly  wounded,  whereupon  his  division 
was  repulsed.  The  Eleventh  Corps  in  general  gave  way  before 
EwelFs  rush,  rolhng  back  disordered  through  the  town,  where 
large  numbers  were  captured.  Fortunately,  on  the  high  crest 
of  Cemetery  Hill,  Howard  had  stationed  in  reserve* the  division 
of  Steinwehr.  What  broken  brigades  and  regiments,  fleeing 
through  the  town,  could  reach  this  point  were  forthwith  raUied 
and  reorganized.  Thus,  at  mid-day  of  July  1,  things  were  hope- 
ful for  Lee.  The  First  Corps,  its  flank  exposed  by  the  retirement 
of  the  Eleventh  Corps,  fell  back  fighting  through  Gettysburg  to 
Cemetery  Hill  during  the  afternoon.  Lee  swept  the  Federals 
from  the  town  and  the  fields  and  ridges  beyond.  Had  Ewell 
stormed  Cemetery  HiU  at  once,  Lee  might 
have  won  a  great  success. 

One  of  the  first  marks  of  a  capacity  for 
leadership  is  the  power  to  choose  men,  and 
Meade  now  showed  this  conspicuously. 
He  had  lost  Reynolds,  his  main  depend- 
ence, a  loss  that  no  doubt  affected  great- 
ly the  fortunes  of  the  first  day's  battle;  he 
replaced  Reynolds  with  a  young  officer 
whom  it  was  necessary  to  push  over  the 
heads  of  several  seniors;  but  a  better  se- 
lection could  not  have  been  made.  Of  the 
splendid  captains  whom  the  long  agony  of 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac  was  slowly 
evolving,  probably  the  best  as  an  all-round 
soldier  was  Winfield  Scott  Hancock.  Since 
his  West  Point  training,  finished  in  1844,t 
he  had  had  wide  and  thorough  military  experience,  cUmbing  labo- 
riously from  colonel  to  corps  commander,  winning  out  from  each 
grade  to  the  next  higher  through  faithful  and  able  service.  He 
could  deal  with  figures;  was  diligent  over  papers  and  office  drudg- 
ery; he  was  a  patient  drill-master — all  these,  and  at  the  same  time  • 
so  dashing  and  magnetic  in  the  field  that  he  early  earned  the  title 
' '  The  Superb. '  'J    His  vigor,  moreover,  was  tempered  by  judgment. 

*  Doubleday,  Chaneellorsville  and  Gettysburg,  132. 
tCuUum,  Register  of  Mil.  Acad.,  art.,  Hancock. 

J  Walker,  Hancock,  in  Mass.  Mil.  Hist.  Soc,  Papers,  "  Some  Federal  and 
Confederate  Commanders,"  49. 


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BEGINNING  OF  INFAN- 
TOY  ENGAGEMENT, 
JULY    1,  10  A.M. 


GETTYSBURG, 


449 


Hancock  it  was  whom  Meade  now  sent  forward  from  Taney- 
town,  thirteen  miles  away,  when  he  was  anxiously  gathering  in 
his  host,  to  lead  the  hard-pressed  left  wing;  he  was  to  judge 
whether  the  position  should  be  held,  as  Reynolds  had  thought, 
or  a  retirement  attempted  towards  the  surveyed  lines  of  Pipe 
Creek.    The  apparition  on  Cemetery  Hill,  just  before  four  o'clock, 


POSITIONS,  JULY  1,  3  P.M. 

July  1,  of  Hancock  upon  his  sweating  charger,  was  equal  to  a 
reinforcement  by  an  army  corps.  Fugitives  halted ;  fragments  of 
formations  were  welded  into  proper  battle-lines.  In  the  respite 
given  by  Ewell,  so  ill-timed  for  Lee,  the  shattered  First  and 
Eleventh  corps  found  breathing-space  and  plucked  up  heart. 
At  six  o'clock  they  were  joined  by  the  Twelfth  Corps,  that  of  the 
steadfast  Slocum.  Hancock,  now  feeling  that  there  were  troops 
enough  for  the  present,  and  resolute  leaders,  galloped  back  to 
report  to  his  chief.  Upon  his  report  Meade  concentrated  every- 
thing towards  Cemetery  Hill,  the  troops  steadily  plodding  through 
the  moonlit  night.  Meade  himself  reached  the  field  an  hour  past 
midnight,  gaunt  and  hollow-eyed  through  want  of  sleep,*  but 
clear  in  mind  and  stout  of  heart.  At  dawn  of  July  2  the  Second 
Corps,  at  the  head  of  which  Gibbon  had  taken  Hancock's  place, 
and  the  Third  Corps,  Sickles,  were  at  hand.  At  noon  arrived  the 
Fifth,  and  soon  after  the  Sixth,  Sedgwick  having  marched  his 
^  men  thirty-four  miles  in  eighteen  hours. 

Two  parallel  ridges,  their  crests  separated  by  an  interval  of  not 
quite  a  mile,  extend  at  Gettysburg  north  and  south.  The  more 
westerly  of  these,  called,  from  the  Lutheran  College  there.  Semi- 
nary Ridge,  was  the  scene  of  the  first  attack  on  July  1,  but  on  the 


*  Doubleday,  Chancellor sville  and  Gettysburg,  156. 


450  GETTYSBURG. 

second  day  became  the  main  Confederate  position.  The  eastern 
ridge,  terminated  at  its  northern  end  by  the  town  cemetery,  close 
to  which  Howard  so  fortunately  stationed  Steinwehr  on  the  first 
day,  became  the  Federal  stronghold.  Cemetery  Ridge  was  really 
shaped  hke  a  fish-hook,  its  fine  curving  eastward  to  the  abrupt 
and  wooded  Culp's  Hill,  the  barb  of  the  hook.  At  the  curve  the 
ridge  was  steep  and  rough  with  ledges  and  bowlders;  as  it  ran 
southward  its  height  diminished  until,  after  a  mile  or  so,  it  rose 
again  into  two  marked  elevations — Round  Top,  six  hundred  feet 
high,  with  a  spur,  Little  Round  Top  just  north. 

On  the  morning  of  July  2  the  Federals  lay  along  this  ridge  in 
order  as  follows:  at  the  extreme  right,  on  Gulp's  Hill  (the  fish- 
hook's barb),  the  Twelfth  Corps,  Slocum;  at  the  bend,  near  the 
cemetery,  the  Eleventh  Corps,  Howard,  reinforced  from  other 
bodies;  on  their  left  the  First,  now  under  Newton,  and  the  Second, 
Gibbon.  The  First  and  Second  corps  formed,  as  it  were,  the 
shank  of  the  hook,  which  the  Third,  Sickles,  was  expected  to  pro- 
long. The  Fifth,  on  arriving,  took  place  behind  the  third;  and 
the  Sixth,  when  it  appeared  from  the  east,  helped  to  make  se- 
cure the  trains  and  sent  aid  elsewhere.  The  convex  formation 
presently  proved  to  be  of  incalculable  value,  enabling  Meade  to 
strengthen  rapidly  any  threatened  point.  Fronting  their  foe,  the 
Confederates  lay  in  a  parallel  concave  line ,  Ewell  close  at  the 
curve  and  in  the  town,  and  A.  P.  Hill  on  Seminary  Ridge;  this 
line  Longstreet  prolonged  southward,  his  right  flank  opposed  to 
Round  Top.  The  concave  formation  was  an  embarrassment  to 
Lee — no  reinforcements  could  reach  threatened  points  without 
making  a  wide  circuit. 

When  Meade,  supposing  that  Sickles  had  prolonged  with  the 
Third  Corps  the  southward-stretching  line,  reviewed  the  field, 
he  found  the  Third  Corps  thrown  out  far  in  advance,  to  the 
Emmittsburg  road,  which  here  passed  along  a  dominating  ridge; 
the  break  in  the  continuity  of  his  line  filled  the  general  with  alarm, 
but  it  was  too  late  to  change.  Whether  or  not  Sickles  blundered 
will  not  be  argued  here.  Meade  condemned;  other  good  au- 
thorities have  approved,  among  them  Sheridan,  who  regarded  as 
just  Sickles's  claim  that  the  fine  marked  out  by  Meade  was  un- 
tenable.* 

What  happened  here  will  presently  be  told. 

Lee,  too,  was  out  of  harmony  with  Longstreet,  his  well-tried 
second;  and  the  first  matter  in  dispute  was  the  expediency  of 
fighting  at  all  at  Gettysburg.  When  Longstreet,  coming  from 
Chambersburg,  took  in  the  situation,  he  urged  upon  Lee,  bent 
upon  his  battle,  a  turning  of  the  Federal  left  as  better  strategy, 

*A  tradition  at  Gettysburg. 


GETTYSBURG.  451 

by  which  the  Confederates  might  interpose  between  Meade  and 
Washington  and  compel  Meade  to  make  the  attack.  Longstreet 
held  Lee  to  be  perfect  in  defensive  warfare;  on  the  offensive, 
however,  he  thought  him  "over-combative"  and  Hable  to  rash- 
ness.* Lee  rejected  the  advice  with  a  touch  of  irritation;  and 
when  Longstreet,  acquiescing,  made  a  second  suggestion — namely, 
for  a  tactical  turning  of  the  Federal  left  instead  of  a  direct  assault 
— Lee  pronounced  for  the  assault  in  a  manner  so  peremptory  that 
Longstreet  could  say  no  more.  From  first  to  last  at  Gettysburg, 
Longstreet  was  ill  at  ease,  in  spite  of  which  his  blows  fell  hke  those 
from  the  hammer  of  a  war-god.  The  friends  of  Lee  have  de- 
nounced him  for  a  sluggishness  and  insubordination  that,  as  they 
claim,  lost  for  them  the  battle.f  His  defence  of  himself  is  earnest 
and  pathetic,  of  great  weight  as  coming  from  one  of  the  most  able 
and  manful  figures  on  either  side  in  the  Civil  War. 

Of  Longstreet 's  three  divisions,  only  one,  that  of  McLaws,  was 
on  hand  with  all  its  brigades  on  the  forenoon  of  July  2.  At  noon 
arrived  Law,  completing  Hood's  division.  Pickett's  division 
was  still  behind ;  but  in  mid-afternoon,  without  waiting  for  him, 
Longstreet  attacked — Hood,  with  all  possible  energy,  striking 
Sickles  in  his  far-advanced  position  and  working  dangerously 
around  his  flank  towards  the  Round  Tops.  Longstreet's  generals, 
Hood  and  afterwards  Law  (Hood  falling  wounded  in  the  first 
attack),  though  men  of  courage  and  dash,  assaulted  only  after 
having  filed  written  protests,  feeling  sure  that  the  position  could 
be  easily  turned  and  gained  with  little  fighting.  But  Lee  had 
been  peremptory,  and  no  choice  was  left.l 

Gouverneur  K.  Warren,  then  chief-engineer  of  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac,  despatched  by  Meade  to  the  left  during  the  after- 
noon, found  the  Round  Tops  undefended.  They  were  plainly 
the  key  to  the  Federal  position,  offering  points  which,  if  seized  by 
the  enemy,  would  make  possible  an  enfilading  of  the  Federal  line. 
Troops  of  the  Twelfth  Corps,  at  first  stationed  there,  had  been 
withdrawn  and  their  places  not  supplied.  There  was  not  a  mo- 
ment to  lose.  Even  as  he  stood,  Warren  beheld  in  the  opposite 
woods  the  gleam  of  arms  from  Longstreet's  swift  advance.  Leap- 
ing down  from  ledge  to  ledge,  he  met  a  brigade  of  the  Fifth  Corps, 
just  arrived  and  marching  to  the  aid  of  Sickles.  These  he  diverted 
to  the  eyrie  he  had  so  lately  left;  a  battery,  too,  was  dragged  up 
over  the  rocks,  and  none  too  soon.     At  that  very  moment  the 

*  Mrs.  Longstreet,  Lee  and  Longstreet  at  High  Tide,  83,  84. 

t  For  criticisms  by  the  friends  of  Lee,  see  Davis,  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Conjed. 
Govt.,  IL,  447;  F.  H.  Lee,  Robert  E.  Lee,  299;  William  Allan,  in  Battles  and 
Leaders,  III.,  355.  Able  and  impartial  is  G.  F.  R,  Henderson,  Science  of 
War,  280  et  seq.  J  Hood,  Advance  and  Retreat,  57  et  seq. 


452 


GETTYSBURG. 


POSITIONS,   JULY   2,  2:30  P.M. 

men  of  Hood  charged  out  of  the  valley,  and  the  height  was  held 
only  by  the  most  obstinate  combat. 

From  the  valley,  meantime,  came  up  a  tumult  of  arms  which, 
as  the  sun  threw  its  rays  aslant,  spread  wider  and  louder.  Long- 
street  and  A.  P.  Hill  threw  in  upon  the  Third  Corps  every  man 
available;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  Meade  poured  in  to  its  sup- 
port division  after  division  from  the  Fifth,  and  at  last  from  the 
Second  and  Twelfth.*  About  six  o'clock  Sickles  fell  wounded; 
by  sunset  his  line  was  everywhere  forced  back,  though  not  in  rout. 


*  For  Meade's  good  judgment  and  activity,  see  Walker,  in  Battles  and 
Leaden,  III.,  406. 


GETTYSBURG.  453 

By  dusk  the  Confederates  had  mastered  all  resistance  in  the 
valley.  But  the  line  once  reached  which  Meade  had  originally 
designed,  running  north  from  Little  Round  Top  to  Cemetery 
Ridge,  retreat  went  no  farther.  That  line  was  not  crossed  by 
foot  of  foe.  When  night  fell  the  Round  Tops  were  held  firmly, 
while  troops  from  the  Sixth  Corps  guarded  the  Union  left.  Nearer 
the  centre  stood  the  Third  and  Fifth,  much  shattered  but  still 
defiant.  In  a  way,  what  had  happened  was  but  a  rectification  of 
Meade's  fine:  the  Confederates,  indeed,  had  won  ground,  but 
the  losses  they  had  inflicted  were  no  more  appalling  than  those 
they  had  received. 

Meantime,  fighting  no  less  determined  and  sanguinary  had 
taken  place  at  the  cemetery  and  Culp's  Hill.  Lee's  plan  con- 
templated a  simultaneous  attack  at  the  north  and  south;  but 
Ewell,  at  the  north,  was  late  in  his  advance,  and  the  intended 
effect  of  distracting  the  Federals  was  wellnigh  lost.  The  Louisiana 
brigade  dashed  itself  in  vain  against  the  height  just  above  the 
town.  The  Stonewall  division  fared  better;  for,  the  Federal  de- 
fenders being  for  the  most  part  withdrawn,  they  seized  intrench- 
ments  on  Culp's  Hill,  penetrating  far — for  Meade  a  most  critical 
advance,  since  they  came  within  thirty  rods  of  the  Baltimore 
turnpike,  where  lay  his  trains  and  reserve  ammunition.  The 
South  has  always  believed  that,  had  Stonewall  Jackson  been 
there,  the  Federal  rear  would  have  been  reached,  and  rout  and 
capture  made  certain. 

For  both  sides  it  had  been  a  day  of  terrible  experiences,  and  for 
the  Federals  the  outlook  was  perhaps  more  gloomy  than  for  their 
foes.  On  each  flank  the  Confederates  had  gained  an  advantage, 
and  Lee  probably  felt  a  hopefulness  which  the  circumstances  did 
not  really  justify.  Meade  gathered  his  generals  at  midnight  in 
council.  It  was  in  a  little  room,  but  ten  or  twelve  feet  square, 
a  group  dust-covered  and  sweat-stained,  the  strong  faces  sternly 
earnest.  Some  sat  on  the  bed;  some  stood;  Warren,  wounded, 
stretched  out  on  the  floor,  was  overcome  by  sleep.  There  was  no 
vote  but  to  fight  it  out  on  the  morrow.  In  this  Meade  acquiesced, 
carefully  planning  for  a  retreat,  however,  should  the  need  arise. 
To  Gibbon,  commanding  the  Second  Corps,  placed  between  the 
wings,  he  said:  "Your  turn  will  come  to-morrow.  To-day  he 
has  struck  the  flanks:  next,  it  will  be  the  centre."  * 

Lee  was  drawn  on  by  the  success  of  the  first  day  to  fight  again 
on  the  second;  his  success  on  the  second  induced  him  to  try  for 
the  third  time ;  but  he  had  exhausted  his  good-fortune.  At  earliest 
dawn  of  July  3,  1863,  began  a  wrestle  for  the  possession  of  Culp's 
Hill,  Ewell  heavily  reinforcing  the  Stonewall  division  which  had 

*  Gibbon,  in  Battles  and  Leaders,  III.,  313. 


454 


GETTYSBURG, 


won  footing  there  the  night  before,  and  the  Twelfth  Corps  as 
stubbornly  struggling  for  the  ground  it  had  lost.  It  was  a  fight 
of  six  hours,  in  which  the  extreme  northern  wings  of  the  two 
armies  only  were  concerned.  The  Federals  won,  at  a  heavy 
sacrifice  of  life. 

Elsewhere  the  armies  rested,  an  ominous  silence  at  last  reigning 
on  the  trampled  and  bloody  field  under  the  mid-day  sun.  Meade 
and  his  soldiers  knew  that  it  portended  danger,  and  with  a  sure 
intuition  the  army  chief  was  watching  with  especial  care  the 
centre,  as  yet  unassailed.    On  the  Confederate  side,  the  unhappy 


POSITIONS,    JULY  3,  IN    THE    EARLY   AFTERNOON. 

Longstreet,  at  odds  with  his  chief  as  to  the  wisdom  of  the  cam- 
paign from  the  start,  and  disapproving  both  its  strategy  and  tac- 
tics, was  now  in  deeper  gloom  than  ever.  Lee  had  determined 
to  assault  the  Federal  centre,  and  by  a  cruel  turn  of  fate  the  blow 
must  be  struck  by  the  reluctant  Longstreet.  Of  the  three  great 
Confederate  corps,  it  was  only  in  Longstreet's  that  a  force  re- 
mained as  yet  unwrung  by  the  fearful  agonies  of  the  last  two  days. 


GETTYSBURG,  455 

Pickett's  division,  solidly  Virginian,  and  in  the  eyes  of  Lee  a 
Tenth  Legion  in  its  valor,  as  yet  had  done  nothing,  and  was  to 
bear  the  brunt  of  the  attack.  "What  troops  do  you  design  for 
the  assault?"  Longstreet  had  asked.  Lee,  having  indicated  Pick- 
ett's division  of  five  thousand,  with  auxiliary  divisions,  making 
an  entire  number  in  the  charging  column  of  fifteen  thousand, 
the  Georgian  burst  out:  "I  have  been  a  soldier  from  the  ground 
up.  I  have  been  with  soldiers  engaged  in  fights  by  couples, — 
by  squads,  companies,  regiments,  armies, — and  should  know  as 
well  as  any  one  what  soldiers  can  do.  It  is  my  opinion  that  no 
fifteen  thousand  men  ever  arrayed  for  battle  can  take  that 
position."  * 

But  Lee  was  unmoved.  Confident  of  success,  he  despatched 
Stuart,  arrived  at  last  after  his  raid,  so  long  and  futile,  around 
beyond  the  Federal  right.  When  the  Union  centre  should  be 
broken  and  Meade  thrown  into  retreat,  Stuart  was  to  seize  its 
only  practicable  route  for  retreat,  the  Baltimore  pike,  and  make 
the  defeat  decisive. 

Meade,  meantime,  had  managed  warily  and  well.  At  his  centre 
stood  Hancock,  his  best  lieutenant.  There  were  massed  the  First 
and  Second  corps,  with  reserve  troops  at  hand  ready  to  pour  in  at 
the  word,  with  batteries  bearing  upon  front  and  flank,  every 
approach  guarded,  every  man  and  horse  on  the  alert.  The  pro- 
vost-guards, and  in  the  rear  of  all  a  regiment  of  cavalry,  formed 
in  Hne  behind,  had  orders  to  shoot  any  faint  hearts  who,  in  the 
crisis,  should  turn  from  the  foe  to  flee.f  At  one  o'clock  two 
signal-guns  were  heard  on  Seminary  Ridge,  upon  which  followed 
a  terrible  cannonade,  appalling  but  only  slightly  harmful,  for 
the  waiting  ranks  found  cover  from  the  missiles.  Feeling  sure 
that  this  was  a  prelude  to  something  more  serious,  the  Federal 
chief  relaxed  his  fire  to  spare  his  ammunition.  It  was  under- 
stood on  the  other  side  that  the  Federal  guns  were  silenced;  and 
that  moment  having  been  appointed  as  the  time  for  the  onset, 
Pickett  inquired  of  Longstreet  if  he  should  go  forward.  Long- 
street,  convinced  that  the  charge  must  fail,  made  no  reply,  though 
the  question  was  repeated.  "I  shall  go  forward,"  said  Pickett, 
to  which  his  general  bowed  his  head.  Instantly  was  heard  the 
footbeat  of  the  fifteen  thousand,  and  the  heavy-hearted  Long- 
street,  mounting  his  horse,  rode  out  to  behold  the  sacrifice.  He 
has  recorded  that  the  column  passed  him  down  the  slope  high- 
hearted, buoyant,  hopeful,  Pickett  riding  gracefully,  like  a  holi- 
day soldier,  with  cap  set  jauntily  on  his  long,  auburn  locks.  J 

*  Mrs.  Longstreet,  Lee  and  Longstreet  at  High  Tide,  48. 
t  Penny  packer,  Meade,  194. 
X  Longstreet,  Manassas  to  Appomattox,  385  et  seq. 
3Q 


456  GETTYSBURG. 

The  silence  of  the  Federal  guns  had  been  for  a  purpose.  As 
Pickett's  men  appeared  there  was  a  sudden  reopening  of  their 
tumult;  a  deadly  sequence  from  round-shot  to  canister,  and 
thence  to  the  Minie- balls  of  the  infantry.  The  defenders  now 
saw  before  them,  as  they  peered  through  the  battle  smoke  from 
their  shelter,  a  solid  wedge  of  men,  the  division  of  Pickett,  flanked 
by  masses  on  the  right  and  left  commanded  by  Pettigrew  and 
Wilcox.  The  column  approached,  and  visibly  melted  away.  Of 
Pickett's  commanders  of  brigades  every  one  went  down,  and  their 
men  lay  literally  in  heaps  beside  them. 

"A  thousand  fell  where  Kemper  led; 

A  thousand  died  where  Garnett  bled; 
In  blinding  flame  and  strangling  smoke 
The  remnant  through  the  batteries  broke, 

And  crossed  the  works  with  Armistead." 

A  hundred  or  so,  led  by  Armistead,  his  cap  held  aloft  on  his  sword- 
point,  actually  penetrated  the  Federal  line  and  reached  the  "  clump 
of  trees  "  just  beyond,  holding  for  a  few  moments  a  battery.  Pet- 
tigrew and  Trimble,  just  north,  struggled  also  for  a  footing.  But 
the  foothold  was  only  for  a  moment:  on  front  and  flank  the  Fed- 
erals converged,  and  the  tide  rolled  slowly  and  heavily  rearward. 
For  the  South  all  hope  of  victory  was  gone. 

As  the  broken  and  diminished  multitude  fell  back  to  Seminary 
Ridge,  Lee  rode  out  to  meet  them.  He  was  alone,  his  staff  being 
all  absent,  in  that  supreme  moment,  on  desperate  errands.  His 
face  was  calm  and  resolute,  his  voice  confident  but  sympathetic 
as  he  exclaimed:  "It  was  all  my  fault:  now  help  me  to  do  what 
I  can  to  save  what  is  left."  It  casts  a  hght  on  his  character,  that 
even  in  that  hour  he  chided  a  young  officer  near  for  chastising  his 
horse:  "Don't  whip  him,  captain.  I've  got  just  such  another 
foolish  horse  myself,  and  whipping  does  no  good."  *  Longstreet 
declares  Lee  said  again  that  night,  about  the  bivouac-fire:  "It 
was  all  my  fault.  You  ought  not  to  have  made  that  last  attack  " ; 
and  that  still  again  Lee  wrote  to  him  at  a  later  time :  "  If  I  had  only 
taken  your  advice,  even  on  the  3rd,  and  moved  around  the 
Federal  left,  how  different  all  might  have  been!"  f 

Longstreet  also  records  that  he  fully  expected  a  counter-stroke 
at  once,  and  looked  to  his  batteries,  only  to  find  the  ammunition 
exhausted;  but  they  were  his  only  reliance  for  defence.  The 
Federal  cavalry,  at  that  moment  attacking  his  right,  occupied 
troops  who  might  otherwise  have  been  brought  to  the  centre. 

*  Fremantle,  Three  Months  in  the  Southern  States,  274  et  seq.    Confirmed  to 
the  writer  by  General  E.  P.  Alexander,  who  heard  the  rebuke, 
t  Battles  and  Leaders,  III.,  349. 


GETTYSBURO.  457 

Should  there  have  been  a  counter-stroke?  Hancock,  lying 
wounded  almost  to  death  in  an  ambulance,  reasoned  that,  because 
he  had  been  struck  by  a  tenpenny  nail,  the  Confederate  ammuni- 
tion must  be  exhausted ;  he  had  strength  to  dictate  an  approval 
if  the  charge  should  be  ordered.*  Lincoln  always  felt  that  it 
should  have  been  made,  and  lamented  that  he  did  not  go  to  Gettys- 
burg himself  and  push  matters  on  the  field,  as  the  crisis  required. f 
We  can  surmise  what  Grant  would  have  done  had  he  instead  of 
Meade,  as  the  sun  lowered,  looked  across  the  valley  from  Cemetery 
Ridge.  But  the  case  may  be  put  strongly  for  Meade :  with  his  best 
lieutenants  dead  or  wounded,  worn  out  himself,  whom  else  could 
he  trust?  And,  in  the  disorder  of  his  Hne,  how  could  he  tell  how 
far  his  own  army  had  been  shattered  in  the  desperate  fights,  or 
what  was  Lee's  condition?  It  was  only  prudent  to  let  well 
enough  alone.  Nevertheless,  a  little  of  such  imprudence  as  his 
adversary  was  constantly  showing  might  perhaps  have  led  to 
Lee's  complete  destruction. J  During  the  three  fearful  days  the 
Federals  had  lost  3155  killed,  14,529  wounded,  5365  missing — 
a  total  of  about  23,000;  the  Confederates,  3903  killed,  18,735 
wounded,  5425  missing — a  total  of  about  28,000.  § 

As  it  was,  Lee  stood  defiantly  on  Seminary  Ridge  full  twenty- 
four  hours  longer.  Then,  gathering  his  army  about  him,  and  call- 
ing in  the  cavalry  which,  during  Pickett's  charge,  was  receiving 
severe  punishment  on  its  own  account  at  the  hands  of  Gregg  and 
his  division,  he  slowly  withdrew.  Practically  undisturbed,  he 
crossed  the  Potomac,  followed  with  great  deliberation  by  the  army 
that  had  conquered  but  failed  to  crush. 

Lincoln's  disappointment  was  never  greater  than  over  the  lame 
outcome  of  Gettysburg.  "We  had  them  within  our  grasp,"  he 
cried.  "We  had  only  to  stretch  forth  our  hands  and  they  were 
ours,  and  nothing  I  could  say  or  do  could  make  the  army  move. 
Our  army  held  the  War  in  the  hollow  of  their  hand  and  they  would 
not  close  it."  The  honor  that  fell  to  Meade  for  his  splendid  service 
was  deserved.  While  the  criticism  was  violent,  he  asked  to  be 
reUeved.  But  the  better  nature  of  the  North  made  itself  evident 
at  last,  and  he  was  retained.  It  was  felt  that  he  had  served 
his  country  most  nobly,  and,  though  possibly  falling  short  of 
the  highest,  deserved  to  be  forever  cherished  among  the  im- 
mortals. 

*  Committee  on  Conduct  of  the  War,  Report,  pt.  i.  (1864-1865),  408  at  seq. 
fNicolay  and  Hay,  Abraham  Lincoln,  VII.,  278. 

X  For  a  minute  discussion  of  Meade's  management,  and  much  testimony,  see 
Committee  on  Conduct  of  the  War,  Report,  pt.  i.  (1864-1865),  295-524. 
§  Livermore,  Numbers  and  Losses,  102. 


458  GETTYSBURG. 

SYNOPSIS    OF    PRINCIPAL    EVENTS,    CHIEFLY    MILITARY,    BE- 
TWEEN   THE  BATTLES  OF  VICKSBURG  AND  GETTYSBURG, 
1863,    AND   THE   BATTLE   OF   SEDAN,   1870. 

A.  D.  1863.  Federal  victories  at  Chickamauga,  Chattanooga,  and 
Lookout  Mountain. 

1864.  Sherman  begins  his  march  to  the  sea,  May  5.  Battle  of  the 
Wilderness  between  Grant  and  Lee.  Second  battle  of  Cold  Har- 
bor; Lee  repulses  Grant's  assault.  Confederate  cruiser  Alabama 
sunk  by  U.  S.  S.  Kearsarge.  Farragut  defeats  Confederate  fleet 
in  Mobile  Bay.  Federal  victories  at  Winchester  and  Cedar  Creek. 
Second  Schleswig-Holstein  war  begins. 

1865.  Capture  of  Fort  Fisher  by  the  Federals.  Sherman  oc- 
cupies Charleston.  Defeat  of  Lee  at  Five  Forks.  Capture  of 
Petersburg  and  Richmond.  Surrender  of  General  Lee  at  Appo- 
mattox Court-House.  President  Lincoln  assassinated,  April  14. 
Capture  of  Jefferson  Davis,  May  10.     End  of  the  Civil  War. 

1866.  War  of  Prussia  and  Italy  against  Austria  and  her  German 
allies.  Prussian  troops  occupy  Holstein,  Hanover,  Saxony,  and 
Hesse-Cassel.  The  Prussian  forces  overwhelm  the  Austrians  at 
the  battle  of  Sadowa.  Successful  Prussian  campaigns  against 
forces  of  South  German  states.  The  Peace  of  Prague  between 
Prussia  and  Austria.  Peace  of  Vienna  between  Austria  and  Italy. 
Dissolution  of  German  Confederation,  annexation  of  Hanover 
and  other  states  to  Prussia,  and  formation  of  North  German 
Confederation  under  the  leadership  of  Prussia. 

1867.  Dominion  of  Canada  constituted.  W^arfare  in  Italy  be- 
tween Garibaldi  and  French  and  Papal  troops.  French  troops 
withdraw  from  Mexico.  Maximilian  captured  by  Juarez  and 
shot. 

1868.  Impeachment  of  President  Johnson  fails.  Sir  Robert 
Napier  storms  Magdala.  End  of  Abyssinian  War.  Revolution 
in  Spain.     Cuban  insurrection. 

1870.  France  declares  war  against  Prussia.  The  French  defeat- 
ed at  Spichera  and  Gravelotte. 


SEDAN.  459 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE    BATTLE   OF   SEDAN,    1870. 

The  Franco-German  War  was  probably  inevitable,  but  its  immediate  causes 
were  creditable  to  neither  side.  In  France,  Napoleon  III.  found  his  aspiration 
to  play  the  leading  part  in  Europe  threatened  by  the  rise  of  Prussia  after  its 
victory  over  Austria  in  1866.  In  Prussia,  Bisfliarck  and  others  were  de- 
termined to  crush  the  power  of  France,  and  there  was  also  the  aspiration  for 
a  unified  Germany.  The  year  1867  brought  a  dispute  over  Luxembourg. 
Napoleon,  whose  desire  for  absolutism  was  threatened  by  the  domestic  unrest 
shown  in  the  Plebiscite  of  1870,  dreamed  of  strengthening  his  hold  by  a  "brill- 
iant foreign  policy."  The  mention  of  a  HohenzoUern — a  Prussian  Prince — 
for  the  vacant  throne  of  Spain,  gave  him  an  opportunity. 

His  protests  extended  to  the  point  of  a  demand  that  the  Prussian  Emperor 
should  bind  himself  by  humiliating  pledges  not  to  interfere  in  Spain.  Bis- 
marck saw  his  opportunity,  and  changed  the  wording  of  the  reply  so  that,  as 
von  Moltke  said,  it  became  a  "call  to  battle."  Napoleon,  who  had  been  com- 
pletely deceived  as  to  the  condition  of  his  army,  which  in  morale  and  equip- 
ment was  unfit  for  active  service,  declared  war  on  July  15,  1870. 

The  French  forces  consisted  of  about  three  hundred  thousand  men,  divided 
into  six  corps  and  the  Imperial  Guard.  The  Prussian,  North  German,  Bava- 
rian, Wurtemberger,  and  Badenese  troops  made  up  a  German  force  of  one 
million  one  hundred  and  twenty-four  thousand.  On  the  French  side  were 
inefficient  preparation,  lack  of  discipline,  and  a  want  of  matured  plans.  The 
German  troops  were  well  equipped,  perfectly  disciplined,  led  by  trained 
soldiers,  and  before  the  war  began  von  Moltke  had  matured  all  preparations 
and  had  planned  even  the  details  of  the  campaigns.  From  the  first  fighting 
at  Saarbriick,  on  August  2d  to  the  close,  von  Moltke's  plans  were  carried 
out  with  mechanical  precision.  On  August  4th  the  German  Crown-Prince,  en- 
tering France,  won  the  victories  of  Wissemburg  and  Geisburg.  On  the  6th 
he  defeated  Napoleon  at  Woerth,  The  Germans  advanced.  Strasburg  was 
attacked.  Bazaine  suffered  one  defeat  after  another,  among  them  the  crush- 
ing blow  of  Gravelotte  on  August  18th. 

After  Gravelotte,  Marshal  MacMahon's  attempt  to  relieve  Metz,  where 
Bazaine  had  been  shut  up  by  the  German  armies,  was  checked  by  the  third  and 
fourth  German  armies.  MacMahon  was  driven  back  towards  the  Belgian  fron- 
tier in  an  effort  to  force  him  into  neutral  territory.  But  the  French  commander 
sought  protection  in  the  fortress  of  Sedan,  holding  the  heights  on  three  sides 
of  the  town.  The  Germans,  with  a  much  superior  force,  invested  the  French 
position  closely. 

The  decisive  battle  which  followed  is  described  by  the  actual  commander 
of  the  German  forces.— Editor. 

While  the  Fifth  French  Corps  were  still  fighting  at  Beaumont, 
and  before  the  rest  of  the  army  had  crossed  the  Meuse,  General 


460  SEDAN. 

MacMahon  had  given  orders  that  it  was  to  concentrate  on 
Sedan. 

He  did  not  intend  to  offer  battle  there,  but  it  was  indispensable 
to  give  his  troops  a  short  rest  and  provide  them  with  food  and 
ammunition.  Later  on  he  meant  to  retreat  via  Mezieres,  whither 
General  Vinoy  was  just  then  proceeding  with  the  newly  formed 
Thirteenth  Corps.  The  First  French  Corps,  which  had  arrived 
at  Carignan  early  in  the  afternoon,  detached  two  of  its  divisions 
to  Douzy  in  the  evening  to  check  any  further  advance  of  the 
Germans. 

Though  pursuit  immediately  after  the  battle  was  prevented 
by  the  intervening  rivoB,  the  retreat  of  the  French  soon  assumed 
the  character  of  a  rout.  The  troops  were  v/orn  out  with  their 
efforts  by  day  and  night,  in  continuous  rain,  and  with  but  scanty 
supplies  of  food.  The  marching  to  and  fro,  to  no  visible  purpose, 
had  undermined  their  confidence  in  their  leaders,  and  a  series 
of  defeats  had  shaken  their  self-reliance. 

Thousands  of  fugitives,  crying  for  bread,  crowded  round  the 
wagons  as  they  made  their  way  to  the  little  fortress  which  had  so 
unexpectedly  become  the  central  goal  of  a  vast  army. 

The  Emperor  Napoleon  arrived  there  from  Carignan  late  in  the 
evening;  the  Seventh  Corps  reached  Floing  during  the  night  of 
the  31st,  but  the  Twelfth  French  Corps  did  not  arrive  at  Bazeilles 
until  the  following  day.  The  Fifth  French  Corps  mustered  at 
the  eastern  suburb  of  Sedan  in  a  shocking  condition,  followed  in 
the  afternoon  by  the  First  Corps,  which  drew  up  behind  the 
Givonne  Valley  after  many  rear-guard  actions  with  the  German 
cavalry.  It  was  impossible  to  proceed  to  Mezieres  that  day; 
but  the  Twelfth  Corps  had  that  same  evening  to  face  the  Ger- 
mans at  Bazeilles,  where  the  sound  of  firing  announced  their 
arrival.  Even  the  order  to  destroy  the  bridges  there  and  at 
Donchery  was  neglected,  owing  to  the  worn-out  condition  of  the 
men. 

(August  31st.)  The  French  Guards  and  the  12th  French 
Cavalry  Division,  which  formed  part  of  the  Army  of  the  Meuse, 
had  crossed  that  river  at  Pouilly,  by  a  pontoon  bridge  constructed 
at  Letanne,  and  then  scoured  the  country  between  the  Meuse 
and  the  Chiers.  Following  close  upon  the  rear  of  the  French  and 
harassing  them  till  they  reached  their  new  position,  they  succeed- 
ed in  taking  many  of  the  stragglers.  The  Guards  crossed  the 
Chiers  at  Carignan  and  halted  at  Sachy;  the  Twelfth  fell  back  on 
the  Meuse  near  Douzy,  while  its  advanced  guard  pushed  on  past 
Francheval.     The  Fourth  Corps  remained  at  Mouzon. 

The  4th  Cavalry  Division  of  the  Third  German  Army  took 
the  direct  route  to  Sedan,  drove  back  the  French  outposts  from 
Wadelincourt  and  Frenois,  and  from  thence  took  possession  of 


SEDAN.  461 

the  railroad  under  the  fire  of  their  artillery.  The  6th  Cavalry- 
Division,  on  the  left,  reached  Poix,  on  the  way  to  Mezieres. 

When  the  First  Bavarian  Corps  reached  Remilly  before  noon, 
it  came  under  the  heavy  fire  from  the  opposite  side  of  the  river, 
and  at  once  brought  up  its  batteries  in  position  on  the  near  slope 
of  the  valley.  A  furious  cannonade  ensued,  in  which  finally  sixty 
guns  engaged  on  the  side  of  the  Bavarians.  The  French  now 
only  tried  to  blow  up  the  railway  bridge  south  of  Bazeilles,  but 
the  well-directed  shots  of  the  4th  Jager  battalion  drove  off  the 
men,  the  Jagers  threw  the  powder-barrels  into  the  river,  and  at 
mid-day  crossed  the  bridge.  The  battahon  entered  Bazeilles  in 
the  face  of  a  shower  of  bullets  and  occupied  the  northern  quarter 
of  the  straggling  Httle  town. 

Thus  the  Twelfth  French  Corps  was  forced  to  draw  up  between 
Balan  and  La  Moncelle,  where,  after  beng  reinforced  by  batteries 
from  the  First  Corps,  it  faced,  with  an  expenditure  of  considerable 
forces,  the  bold  little  troop  of  Germans. 

General  von  der  Tann  did  not  think  it  expedient,  however,  to 
engage,  on  that  day  and  at  that  point,  in  serious  conflict  with  an 
enemy  in  a  concentrated  position,  and,  seeing  that  there  was  no 
chance  of  being  reinforced,  he  withdrew  from  Bazeilles  at  about 
half-past  three,  without  being  pursued. 

Meanwhile  two  pontoon  bridges  had  been  laid,  without  inter- 
ference from  the  French,  at  AUicourt.  These  and  the  bridge 
south  of  Bazeilles  were  barricaded  for  the  night,  while  eighty- 
four  guns  secured  the  passage. 

The  Eleventh  German  Corps  marched  towards  Donchery,  to 
the  left  of  the  Bavarians,  followed  by  the  Fifth.  The  advanced 
guard  found  the  village  unoccupied,  and  spread  itself  on  the 
other  side  of  the  river.  Two  more  bridges  were  thrown  across 
below  Sedan  before  three  o'clock,  while  the  railway  bridge  above, 
which  was  unprotected,  was  destroyed. 

The  Wiirtemberg  and  the  6th  Cavalry  Division,  on  the  extreme 
left,  came  in  contact  with  the  Thirteenth  French  Corps,  which 
had  just  arrived  at  Mezieres. 

The  King  removed  his  headquarters  to  Vendresse. 

In  spite  of  long  and  sometimes  forced  marches  in  bad  weather, 
with  little  by  way  of  supplies  beyond  what  could  be  requisitioned, 
the  Army  of  the  Meuse  on  the  east,  and  the  Third  Army  on  the 
south,  were  now  close  in  front  of  the  combined  forces  of  the 
French. 

Marshal  MacMahon  must  have  known  that  the  only  chance  of 
safety  for  his  army,  or  even  part  of  it,  was  to  continue  imme- 
diately the  retrograde  movement  on  that  day,  September  1st. 
Of  course  the  Crown-Prince  of  Prussia,  who  held  the  key  to  every 
passage  over  the  Meuse,  would  have  fallen  on  the  flank  of  the 


462  SEDAN. 

retiring  army,  and  would  have  pursued  it  to  the  frontier,  a  dis- 
tance of  little  more  than  a  mile.  That  the  attempt  was  not  risked 
is  probably  owing  to  the  state  of  the  worn-out  troops.  They  were 
as  yet  incapable  of  a  retreat  in  close  order;  they  could  only  fight 
where  they  stood. 

The  Germans,  on  their  side,  still  believed  that  the  enemy  would 
make  for  Mezidres.  The  Army  of  the  Meuse  was  instructed  to 
attack  them  in  their  position  and  detain  them  there;  the  Third 
Army  to  press  ahead  on  the  right  side  of  the  river,  leaving  only 
one  corps  on  the  left  bank. 

The  rear  of  the  French  was  protected  by  the  fortress  of  Sedan. 
The  Meuse  and  the  valleys  of  the  Givonne  and  the  Floing  offered 
formidable  obstructions,  but  this  line  of  defence  must  be  ob- 
stinately held.  The  Calvary  of  Illy  was  one  of  their  most  im- 
portant points,  strengthened  as  it  was  by  the  Bois  de  la  Garenne 
in  its  rear,  whence  a  ridge  extends  to  Bazeilles  and  offers  pro- 
tection in  its  numerous  dips  and  shoulders.  The  road  ran  past 
Illy,  should  it  become  necessary  to  enter  neutral  territory.  Ba- 
zeilles, on  the  other  hand,  which,  as  regards  situation,  formed  a 
strong  point  of  appui  for  the  Hne  facing  the  Givonne,  stands  on  a 
promontory,  which,  after  the  loss  of  the  bridges  across  the  Meuse, 
was  open  to  attack  on  two  sides. 

THE   FIGHTING   AT   SEDAN. 
(September  1st.) 

In  order  to  co-operate  with  the  Army  of  the  Meuse  and  hem 
in  the  French  in  their  position.  General  von  der  Tann  sent  his 
first  brigade  over  the  pontoon  bridges  towards  Bazeilles  by  four 
o'clock  in  the  morning  in  a  thick  mist.  The  troops  attacked  the 
town,  but  found  the  streets  barricaded,  while  they  were  fired  on 
from  every  house.  The  company  at  the  head  pressed  forward 
to  the  north  gate,  suffering  great  losses,  but  the  others  were 
driven  out  of  the  western  part  of  Bazeilles,  while  engaged  in  street 
fighting,  on  the  arrival  of  the  2d  Brigade  of  the  French  Twelfth 
Corps.  However,  they  kept  possession  of  the  buildings  at  the 
southern  end  of  the  town  and  from  thence  issued  to  repeated 
assaults.  As  fresh  troops  were  constantly  coming  up  on  both 
sides,  and  the  French  even  were  reinforced  by  a  brigade  of  the 
First  and  one  of  the  Fifth  Corps,  the  murderous  combat  lasted  for 
many  hours  with  wavering  success;  the  fight  for  the  Villa  Beur- 
mann,  situated  near  the  end  of  the  high  street  and  commanding 
its  whole  length,  was  especially  fierce.  The  citizens  took  active 
part  in  the  struggle,  and  they  too  had  to  be  shot  down. 

The  strong  array  of  guns  drawn  up  on  the  left  ridge  of  the 
valley  of  the  Meuse  could  not  be  brought  to  bear  on  the  crowded 


SEDAN. 


463 


THE  GERMAN  INVESTMENT  OF  SEDAN. 


streets  of  Bazeilles,  now  blazing  in  several  places,  but  when,  at 
eight  o'clock,  the  8th  Prussian  Division  had  arrived  at  Remilly, 
General  von  der  Tann  ordered  his  last  brigade  into  action.  The 
walled  park  of  Monvillers  was  stormed  and  an  entrance  gained  to 
Villa  Beurmann.  The  artillery  crossed  the  bridges  at  about  nine 
o'clock,  and  the  8th  Division  were  required  to  give  their  aid  in  a 
struggle  begun  by  the  Bavarians  at  La  Moncelle,  to  the  south  of 
Bazeilles. 

Prince  George  of  Saxony  had  despatched  an  advanced  guard  of 
seven  battalions  from  Douzy  in  that  direction  at  five  o'clock  in 
the  morning.  They  drove  the  French  from  La  Moncelle,  pressed 
ahead  to  Platinerie  and  the  bridge  situated  there,  and,  in  spite  of  a 
hot  and  steady  fire,  took  possession  of  the  houses  on  the  other  side 
of  the  Givonne,  which  they  immediately  occupied  for  defensive 
purposes.     Communication  with  the  Bavarians  was  now  estab- 


464  SEDAN. 

lished  and  the  battery  of  the  advanced  guard  drawn  up  on  the 
eastern  slope;  but  the  brave  assailants  could  not  be  immediately 
reinforced  by  infantry. 

Marshal  MacMahon  had  been  struck  by  a  splinter  from  a  shell 
at  La  Moncelle  at  6  a.m.  He  nominated  General  Ducrot  as  his 
successor  in  command,  passing  over  the  claims  of  two  senior 
leaders.  When  General  Ducrot  received  the  news  at  seven 
o'clock,  he  issued  orders  for  concentrating  the  army  at  Illy,  and 
for  an  immediate  retreat  upon  Mezieres.  Of  his  own  corps  he  de- 
spatched Lartigue's  division  to  cover  the  passage  at  Daigny; 
Lacretelle  and  Bassoigne  were  ordered  to  assume  the  offensive 
against  the  Bavarians  and  Saxons,  so  as  to  gain  time  for  the  rest 
of  the  troops  to  retire.  The  divisions  forming  the  second  line 
immediately  began  to  move  towards  the  north. 

The  Minister  of  War  had  appointed  General  von  Wimpffen, 
recently  back  from  Algiers,  to  the  command  of  the  Fifth  Corps, 
vice  General  de  Failly,  and  had  also  empowered  him  to  assume 
the  chief  command  in  case  the  Marshal  should  be  disabled. 

General  von  Wimpffen  knew  the  army  of  the  Crown-Prince  to 
be  in  the  neighborhood  of  Donchery,  he  regarded  the  retreat  to 
Mezidres  as  an  impossibility,  and  was  bent  on  the  diametrically 
opposite  course  of  forcing  his  way  to  Carignan,  not  doubting  that 
he  could  rout  the  Bavarians  and  Saxons,  and  so  effect  a  junction 
with  Marshal  Bazaine.  When  he  heard  of  the  orders  just  issued 
by  General  Ducrot,  and,  at  the  same  time,  observed  that  an 
assault  upon  the  Germans  in  La  Moncelle  seemed  to  turn  in  his 
favor,  he  determined,  in  an  evil  hour,  to  exercise  his  authority. 

General  Ducrot  submitted  without  any  remonstrance;  he  was 
perhaps  not  averse  to  being  relieved  of  so  heavy  a  responsibility. 
The  divisions  of  the  second  line  who  were  about  to  start  were 
ordered  back;  and  the  weak  advance  of  the  Bavarians  and  Saxons 
were  soon  hard  pressed  by  the  first  line,  who  at  once  attacked 
them. 

By  seven  in  the  morning  one  regiment  of  the  Saxon  advanced 
guard  had  marched  to  the  taking  of  La  Moncelle;  the  other  had 
been  busy  with  the  threatening  advance  of  Lartigue's  division  on 
the  right.  Here  the  firing  soon  became  very  hot.  The  regiment 
had  marched  without  knapsacks,  and  neglected  previously  to  take 
out  their  cartridges.  Thus  they  soon  ran  short  of  ammunition, 
and  the  repeated  and  violent  onslaught  of  the  Zouaves,  directed 
principally  against  the  unprotected  right,  had  to  be  repulsed  with 
the  bayonet. 

On  the  left  a  strong  artillery  line  had  gradually  been  formed, 
and  by  half -past  eight  o'clock  amounted  to  twelve  batteries. 
But  Lacretelle 's  division  was  now  approaching  on  the  Givonne 
lowlands,  and  dense  swarms  of  tirailleurs  forced  the  German 


SEDAN,  465 

batteries  to  retire  at  about  nine  o'clock.  The  gunners  withdrew 
to  some  distance,  but  then  turned  about  and  reopened  fire  on 
the  French,  and  after  driving  them  back  into  the  valley  returned 
to  their  original  position. 

The  4th  Bavarian  Brigade  had  meanwhile  reached  La  Moncelle, 
and  the  46th  Saxon  Brigade  was  coming  up,  so  the  small  progress 
made  by  Bassoigne's  division  was  checked. 

The  right  wing  of  the  Saxon  contingent,  which  had  been  hardly 
pressed,  now  received  much-needed  support  from  the  24th  Division, 
and  they  at  once  assumed  the  offensive.  The  French  were  driven 
back  upon  Daigny,  and  lost  five  guns  in  the  struggle.  Then  join- 
ing the  Bavarians,  who  were  pushing  on  through  the  valley  to  the 
northward,  after  a  sharp  fight,  Daigny,  the  bridge,  and  farmstead 
of  La  Rapaille  were  taken. 

It  was  now  about  ten  o'clock,  and  the  Guards  had  arrived  at  the 
Upper  Givonne.  They  had  started  before  it  was  light,  marching 
in  two  columns,  when  the  sound  of  heavy  firing  reached  them  from 
Bazeilles  and  caused  them  to  quicken  their  step.  In  order  to 
render  assistance  by  the  shortest  road,  the  left  column  would 
have  to  cross  two  deep  ravines  and  the  pathless  wood  of  Chevallier, 
so  they  chose  the  longer  route  by  Villers-Cernay,  which  the  head 
of  the  right  column  had  passed  in  ample  time  to  take  part  in  the 
contest  between  the  Saxons  and  Lartigue's  division,  and  to  capt- 
ure two  French  guns. 

The  divisions  ordered  back  by  General  Ducrot  had  already 
resumed  their  position  at  the  western  slope,  and  the  14th  Battery 
of  the  Guards  now  opened  fire  upon  them  from  the  east. 

At  the  same  hour  (ten  o'clock)  the  Fourth  German  Corps  and 
the  7th  Division  had  arrived  at  Lamecourt,  and  the  8th  at  Remilly, 
both  situated  below  Bazeilles;  the  advanced  guard  of  the  Sth 
stood  at  the  Remilly  railway  station. 

The  first  attempt  of  the  French  to  break  through  to  Carignan 
eastward  had  proved  a  failure,  and  their  retreat  to  Mezieres  on 
the  west  had  also  been  cut  off,  for  the  Fifth  and  Eleventh  Corps 
of  the  Third  Army,  together  with  the  Wiirtemberg  division,  had 
received  orders  to  move  northward  by  that  route.  These  troops 
had  struck  camp  before  daybreak,  and  at  six  o'clock  had  crossed 
the  Meuse  at  Donchery,  and  by  the  three  pontoon  bridges  farther 
down  the  river.  The  advanced  patrols  found  the  road  to  Mezieres 
clear  of  the  enemy,  and  the  heavy  shelling,  heard  from  the  direc- 
tion, of  Bazeilles,  made  it  appear  probable  that  the  French  had 
accepted  battle  in  their  position  at  Sedan.  The  Crown-Prince, 
therefore,  ordered  the  two  corps,  that  had  arrived  at  Brigne,  to 
march  to  the  right  on  St.  Menges;  the  Wiirtembergers  were  to  re- 
main to  keep  watch  over  Mezieres.  General  von  Kirchbach  then 
pointed  out  Fleigneux  to  his  advanced  guard  as  the  next  ob- 


466  SEDAN. 

jective,  to  cut  off  the  retreat  of  the  French  into  Belgium,  and 
maintain  a  connection  with  the  right  wing  of  the  Army  of  the 
Meuse. 

The  narrow  roadway  between  the  hills  and  the  river  leading 
to  St.  Albert,  about  two  thousand  paces  distant,  was  neither  held 
nor  watched  by  the  French.  It  was  not  till  the  advanced  guard 
reached  St.  Menges  that  they  encountered  a  French  detachment, 
which  soon  withdrew.  The  Germans  then  deployed  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Illy,  two  companies  on  the  right  taking  possession  of  Floing, 
where  they  kept  up  a  gallant  defence  for  two  hours  without  assist- 
ance against  repeated  attacks. 

The  first  Prussian  batteries  that  arrived  had  to  exert  themselves 
to  the  utmost  to  hold  out  against  the  larger  force  of  French  ar- 
tillery drawn  up  at  Illy.  At  first  they  were  only  protected  by 
cavalry  and  a  few  companies  of  infantry,  and  as  this  cavalry 
managed  to  issue  from  the  defile  of  St.  Albert,  it  found  itself  the 
misleading  object  of  attack,  for  the  Margueritte  Cavalry  Division 
halted  on  the  Illy  plateau.  General  Galliffet,  commander  of  the 
division,  at  nine  o'clock  formed  his  three  regiments  of  Chasseurs 
d'Afrique  and  two  squadrons  of  Lancers  into  three  divisions,  and 
gave  the  order  to  charge.  Two  companies  of  the  87th  Regiment 
were  the  first  in  the  line;  they  allowed  the  cavalry  to  approach 
within  sixty  paces,  and  then  fired  a  volley  which  failed  to  stop 
them.  The  1st  Division  rode  on  a  little  farther,  then  wheeled  out- 
ward to  both  flanks,  and  came  upon  the  fire  of  the  supports  estab- 
lished in  the  copse.  The  Prussian  batteries,  too,  sent  a  shower 
of  shrapnel  into  their  midst,  when  they  finally  retired  to  seek 
protection  in  the  Bois  de  Garenne,  while  a  trail  of  dead  and 
wounded  marked  their  way. 

About  half  an  hour  later — that  is,  at  ten  o'clock,  and  at  the 
same  time  when  the  assaults  of  the  French  in  Bazeilles  and  at 
Daigny  were  being  repulsed — fourteen  batteries  of  the  Eleventh 
German  Corps  were  erected  on  and  beside  the  hill  range  southeast 
of  St.  Menges;  those  of  the  Fifth  Corps  were  soon  added  to  this 
artillery  park.  Thus,  with  the  powerful  infantry  columns  ad- 
vancing upon  Fleigneux,  the  investing  line  drawn  around  Sedan 
was  nearly  completed.  The  Bavarian  corps  and  the  artillery  re- 
serves remaining  on  the  left  embankment  of  the  Meuse  were  con- 
sidered strong  enough  to  repel  any  attempt  of  the  French  to  break 
through  in  that  direction.  Five  corps  were  standing  on  the  right 
bank,  ready  for  concentric  attack. 

The  Bavarians  and  Saxons,  reinforced  by  the  advanced  guard 
of  the  Fourth  Corps,  issued  from  the  burning  town  of  Bazeilles 
and  from  Moncelle,  and  drove  sections  of  the  French  Twelfth 
Corps,  in  spite  of  a  stubborn  resistance,  from  the  east  of  Balan 
back  to  Fond  de  Givonne. 


SEDAN.  467 

Having  thus  taking  possession  of  the  spur  of  Illy,  while  awaiting 
a  fresh  attack  of  the  French,  the  most  necessary  step  now  was  to 
reform  the  troops,  which  were  in  much  confusion. 

As  soon  as  this  was  done  the  5th  Bavarian  Brigade  advanced 
on  Balan.  The  troops  found  but  a  feeble  resistance  in  the  village 
itself;  but  it  was  only  after  a  hard  fight  that  they  were  allowed 
to  occupy  the  park  of  the  Castle,  situated  at  the  extreme  end. 
From  thence,  soon  after  mid-day,  the  foremost  battalion  got  close 
to  the  walls  of  the  fortress,  and  exchanged  shots  with  the  garrison. 
The  French  were  now  trying  to  take  up  a  position  at  Fond  de 
Givonne,  and  a  steady  fire  was  opened  on  both  sides.  At  one 
o'clock  the  French  had  evidently  received  reinforcements,  and 
when,  after  the  artillery  and  mitrailleuses  had  done  some  pre- 
liminary work,  they  assumed  the  offensive,  the  5th  Bavarian 
Brigade  was  driven  back  for  some  little  distance,  but  assisted  by 
the  6th,  regained  its  old  position  after  an  hour's  hard  fighting. 
Meanwhile  the  Saxon  corps  had  spread  itself  in  the  northern  part 
of  the  valley  towards  Givonne.  There  the  foremost  companies 
of  the  Prussian  Guards  were  already  established,  as  also  in  Haybes. 
The  Prussian  artillery  forced  the  French  batteries  to  change  their 
positions  more  than  once,  and  several  of  them  had  already  gone 
out  of  action.  To  gain  an  opening  here,  the  French  repeatedly 
tried  to  send  ahead  large  bodies  of  tirailleurs,  and  ten  guns  were 
got  into  Givonne,  after  it  had  been  occupied,  but  these  were  taken 
before  they  could  unlimber.  The  Prussian  shells  also  fell  with 
some  effect  among  the  French  troops  massed  in  the  Bois  de  la 
Garenne,  though  fired  from  a  long  range. 

After  the  Franctireurs  de  Paris  had  been  driven  out  of  Chapelle, 
the  cavalry  of  the  Prussian  Guard  advanced  through  Givonne 
and  up  the  valley,  and  at  noon  the  hussars  had  succeeded  in  es- 
tabUshing  a  connection  with  the  left  wing  of  the  Third  Army. 

The  47th  Brigade  of  that  body  had  left  Fleigneux  to  ascend  the 
upper  valley  of  the  Givonne,  and  the  retreat  of  the  French  from 
lUy  in  a  southern  direction  had  already  begun.  The  87th  Regi- 
ment seized  eight  guns  that  were  being  worked,  and  captured 
thirty  baggage-wagons  with  their  teams  and  hundreds  of  cavalry 
horses  wandering  riderless.  The  cavalry  of  the  advanced  guard 
of  the  Fifth  Corps  captured  General  Brahaut  and  his  staff,  besides 
a  great  number  of  infantry  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  pack-horses, 
together  with  forty  ammunition  and  transport  wagons. 

At  Floing  there  was  also  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  French 
to  break  through;  but  the  originally  very  insufficient  infantry 
posts  at  that  point  had  gradually  been  strengthened,  and  the 
French  were  driven  from  the  locality  as  quickly  as  they  had 
entered.  And  now  the  fire  from  the  twenty-six  batteries  of  the 
Army  of  the  Meuse  was  joined  by  that  of  the  Guards'  batteries, 


468  SEDAN. 

which  took  up  their  position  at  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Givonne 
valley.  The  effect  was  overwhelming.  The  French  batteries 
were  destroyed  and  many  ammunition-wagons  exploded. 

General  von  Wimpffen  at  first  thought  the  advance  of  the  Ger- 
mans from  the  north  a  mere  feint,  but  recognized  his  mistake 
when  he  himself  proceeded  to  the  spot  towards  noon.  He  there- 
fore ordered  the  two  divisions  in  the  second  line,  which  was  be- 
hind the  Givonne  front  of  the  First  French  Corps,  to  return  to  the 
height  above  Illy  and  support  General  Douay. 

On  rejoining  the  Twelfth  Corps  he  found  it  in  full  retreat  on 
Sedan,  and  urgently  requested  General  Douay  to  despatch  assist- 
ance in  the  direction  of  Bazeilles.  Maussion's  brigade  proceeded 
thither  at  once,  followed  by  Dumont's,  as  their  position  in  the 
front  had  been  taken  by  Conseil  DumesniFs  division.  All  these 
marches  and  counter-marches  were  executed  in  the  space  south 
of  the  Bois  de  Garenne  under  fire  of  the  German  artillery  on  two 
sides.  The  retreat  of  the  cavalry  heightened  the  confusion,  and 
several  battalions  returned  to  the  doubtful  protection  of  the  forest. 
General  Douay,  it  is  true,  when  reinforced  by  sections  of  the  Fifth 
French  Corps,  retook  the  Calvaire,  but  was  forced  to  abandon  it 
by  two  o'clock;  the  forest,  at  the  back  of  the  Calvaire,  was  then 
shelled  by  sixty  guns  of  the  Prussian  Guards. 

Liebert's  division  alone  had  up  to  now  maintained  its  very 
strong  position  on  the  hills  north  of  Casal.  The  assembling  in 
sufficient  strength  of  the  German  Fifth  and  Eleventh  Corps  at 
Floing,  could  only  be  effected  very  gradually.  At  one  o'clock, 
however,  part  of  them  began  to  scale  the  hill  immediately  before 
them,  while  others  went  round  to  the  south  towards  Gaulier  and 
Casal,  and  more  marched  down  from  Fleigneux.  These  troops 
became  so  intermixed  that  no  detailed  orders  could  be  given;  a 
fierce  contest  was  carried  on  for  a  long  time  with  varying  fortunes. 
The  French  division,  attacked  on  both  flanks,  and  also  shelled, 
at  last  gave  way,  and  the  reserves  of  the  Seventh  Corps  having 
already  been  called  off  to  other  parts  of  the  battle-field,  the 
French  cavalry  once  more  devoted  themselves  to  the  rescue. 

General  Margueritte,  with  five  regiments  of  light  horse  and 
two  of  lancers,  charged  out  of  the  Bois  de  Garennes.  He  fell 
among  the  first,  severely  wounded,  and  General  Galliffet  took  his 
place.  The  charge  was  over  very  treacherous  ground,  and  even 
before  they  could  attack  the  ranks  were  broken  by  the  heavy 
flanking  fire  of  the  Prussian  batteries.  Still,  with  thinned  num- 
bers but  unflagging  determination,  the  squadrons  charged  on 
the  43d  Infantry  Brigade  and  its  reinforcements  hurrying  along 
from  Fleigneux.  Part  of  the  German  infantry  on  the  hill-side 
were  lying  under  cover,  others  were  fully  exposed  in  groups  of 
more  or  less  strength.    Their  foremost  lines  were  broken  through 


SEDAN.  469 

at  several  points,  and  a  detachment  of  these  brave  troops  forced 
their  way  past  eight  guns,  through  a  hot  fire,  but  the  reserves 
beyond  checked  their  further  progress.  A  troop  of  cuirassiers, 
issuing  from  Gaulier,  fell  on  the  German  rear,  but  encountering 
the  Prussian  hussars  in  the  Meuse  Valley,  galloped  off  northward. 
Other  detachments  forced  their  way  through  the  infantry  as  far 
as  the  narrow  way  by  St.  Albert,  where  the  battahons  holding  it 
gave  them  a  warm  reception;  others  again  enter  Floing,  only  to 
succumb  to  the  5th  Jagers,  who  fell  on  them  front  and  rear. 
These  attacks  were  repeated  by  the  French  again  and  again,  and 
the  murderous  turmoil  lasted  for  half  an  hour  with  steadily  dimin- 
ishing success  for  the  French.  The  volleys  of  the  infantry  fired 
at  short  range  strewed  the  whole  field  with  dead  and  wounded. 
Many  fell  into  the  quarries  or  over  the  steep  precipices,  a  few  may 
have  escaped  by  swimming  the  Meuse,  and  scarcely  more  than 
half  of  these  brave  troops  were  left  to  return  to  the  protection  of 
the  fortress. 

But  this  magnificent  sacrifice  of  the  splendid  French  cavahy 
could  not  change  the  fate  of  the  day.  The  Prussian  infantry 
had  lost  but  few  in  cut-and-thrust  encounters,  and  at  once  re- 
sumed the  attack  against  Liebert's  division.  But  in  this  on- 
slaught they  sustained  heavy  losses;  for  instance,  the  three  bat- 
tahons of  the  6th  Regiment  had  to  be  commanded  by  heutenants. 
Casal  was  stormed,  and  the  French,  after  a  spirited  resistance, 
withdrew  at  about  three  o'clock  to  their  last  refuge,  the  Bois  de 
Garennes. 

When,  between  one  and  two  o'clock,  the  fighting  round  Bazeilles 
at  first  took  a  favorable  turn  for  his  army,  General  von  Wimpffen 
returned  to  his  original  plan  of  overthrowing  the  Bavarians  ex- 
hausted by  a  long  struggle,  and  making  his  way  to  Carignan  with 
the  First,  Fifth,  and  Twelfth  Corps,  while  the  Seventh  Corps  was 
to  cover  their  rear.  But  the  orders  issued  to  that  effect  never 
reached  the  generals  in  command,  or  arrived  so  late  that  circum- 
stances forbade  their  being  carried  out. 

In  consequence  of  his  previous  orders,  Bassoigne's  division  with 
those  of  Goze  and  Grandchamp  had  remained  idle.  Now,  at  about 
three  in  the  afternoon,  the  two  last  named  advanced  from  Fond 
de  Givonne,  over  the  eastern  ridge,  and  the  23d  Saxon  Division, 
which  was  marching  in  the  valley  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Givonne, 
found  itself  suddenly  attacked  by  the  compact  French  battalions 
and  batteries,  but  with  the  aid  of  the  left  wing  of  the  Guards  and 
the  artillery  thundering  from  the  eastern  slope,  they  soon  repulsed 
the  French,  and  even  followed  them  up  back  to  Fond  de  Givonne. 
The  energy  of  the  French  appears  to  have  been  exhausted,  for 
they  allowed  themselves  to  be  taken  prisoners  by  hundreds.  As 
soon  as  the  hills  on  the  west  of  the  Givonne  had  been  secured,  the 


470  SEDAN, 

German  artillery  established  itself  there,  and  by  three  o'clock 
twenty-one  batteries  stood  in  line  between  Bazeilles  and  Haybes. 

Bois  de  Garennes,  where  many  corps  of  all  arms  had  found  ref- 
uge and  were  wandering  about,  still  remained  to  be  taken.  After 
a  short  cannonade  the  1st  Division  of  Prussian  Guards  ascended 
the  hills  from  Givonne,  and  were  joined  by  the  Saxon  battalions, 
the  left  wing  of  the  Third  Army  at  the  same  time  pressing  forward 
from  Illy.  A  wild  turmoil  ensued,  some  of  the  French  offered 
violent  resistance,  others  surrendered  by  thousands  at  a  time,  but 
not  until  five  o'clock  were  the  Germans  masters  of  the  fortress. 

Meanwhile  long  columns  of  French  could  be  seen  pouring  down 
on  Sedan  from  all  the  neighboring  hills.  Irregular  bands  of  troops 
were  massed  in  and  around  the  walls  of  the  fortress,  and  shell  from 
the  German  batteries  on  both  sides  of  the  Meuse  were  constantly 
exploding  in  their  midst.  Columns  of  fire  soon  began  to  rise  from 
the  city,  and  the  Bavarians,  who  had  gone  round  to  Torcy,  were 
about  to  cHmb  the  pahsades  at  the  gate  when,  at  about  half-past 
four,  flags  of  truce  were  hoisted  on  the  towers. 

The  Emperor  Napoleon  had  refused  to  join  with  General  von 
Wimpffen  in  his  attempt  to  break  through  the  German  lines;  he 
had,  on  the  contrary,  desired  him  to  parley  with  the  enemy.  On 
the  order  being  renewed,  the  French  suddenly  ceased  firing. 

General  Reille  now  made  his  appearance  in  the  presence  of  the 
King,  who  had  watched  the  action  since  early  in  the  day  from  the 
hill  south  of  Frenois.  He  was  the  bearer  of  an  autograph  letter 
from  the  Emperor,  whose  presence  in  Sedan  had  till  now  been  un- 
known. He  placed  his  sword  in  the  hands  of  the  King,  but  as 
this  was  only  an  act  of  personal  submission,  the  answer  given  to 
his  letter  demanded  that  an  officer  should  be  despatched  hither, 
fully  empowered  to  treat  with  General  von  Moltke  as  to  the  sur- 
render of  the  French  army. 

This  sorrowful  duty  was  imposed  on  General  von  Wimpffen,  who 
was  in  no  way  responsible  for  the  desperate  straits  into  which  the 
army  had  been  brought. 

The  negotiations  were  held  at  Donchery  during  the  night  be- 
tween the  1st  and  2d  of  September.  The  Germans  were  forced 
to  consider  that  they  must  not  forego  the  advantage  gained  over 
so  powerful  an  enemy  as  France.  When  it  was  remembered  that 
the  French  had  regarded  the  victory  of  German  arms  over  other 
nationalities  in  the  light  of  an  insult,  any  act  of  untimely  gen- 
erosity might  lead  them  to  forget  their  own  defeat.  The  only 
course  to  pursue  was  to  insist  upon  the  disarmament  and  deten- 
tion of  the  entire  army,  but  the  officers  were  to  be  free  on  parole. 

General  von  Wimpffen  declared  it  impossible  to  accept  such 
hard  conditions,  the  negotiations  were  broken  off,  and  the  French 
officers  returned  to  Sedan  at  one  o'clock.    Before  their  departure 


SEDAN.  471 

they  were  given  to  understand  that  unless  these  terms  were 
agreed  to  by  nine  o'clock  next  morning  the  bombardment  would 
be  renewed. 

Thus  the  capitulation  was  signed  by  General  von  Wimpffen  on 
the  morning  of  the  2d,  further  resistance  being  obviously  im- 
possible. 

Marshal  MacMahon  had  been  very  fortunate  in  being  disabled 
so  early  in  the  day,  or  he  would  have  been  inevitably  compelled 
to  sign  the  capitulation,  and  though  he  had  only  carried  out  the 
orders  forced  upon  him  by  the  Paris  authorities,  he  could  hardly 
have  sat  in  judgment,  as  he  afterwards  did,  on  the  comrade  he 
had  failed  to  relieve. 

It  is  difficult  to  understand  why  the  Germans  want  to  cele- 
brate the  2d  of  September  when  nothing  remarkable  happened 
but  what  was  the  inevitable  result  of  the  previous  day's  work;  the 
day  when  the  army  really  crowned  itself  with  glory  was  the  1st 
of  September. 

This  splendid  victory  had  cost  the  Germans  460  officers  and 
8500  men.  The  French  losses  were  far  greater:  17,000  were  killed, 
the  work  principally  of  the  strong  force  of  German  artillery. 
Twenty-one  thousand  Frenchmen  were  taken  prisoners  in  the 
course  of  the  action,  83,000  surrendered — 104,000  in  all. 

These,  for  the  present,  were  assembled  on  the  Peninsula  of 
Iges,  formed  by  the  Meuse.  As  they  were  absolutely  destitute 
of  supplies,  the  Commandant  of  Mezidres  allowed  them  the  use  of 
the  railway  as  far  as  Donchery. 

Two  corps  d'armee  were  to  effect  and  escort  the  transport  of 
the  prisoners,  who  were  taken  off  2000  at  a  time  by  two  roads — 
one  to  Etain,  and  the  other  by  Clermont  to  Pont-a-Mousson,  where 
they  were  taken  in  charge  by  the  army  investing  Metz,  and 
forwarded  to  various  places  in  Germany. 

Three  thousand  men  had  been  disarmed  on  Belgian  territory. 

The  trophies,  taken  at  Sedan,  consisted  of  three  standards,  419 
field-pieces,  and  139  guns,  66,000  stands  of  arms,  over  1000  baggage 
and  other  wagons,  and  6000  horses  fit  for  service. 

With  the  surrender  of  this  army.  Imperialism  in  France  was 
extinct.* 

*  For  a  complete  history  of  this  war,  see  the  author's  FraTico-German  War 
of  1870-71,  Harper  &  Brothers. 
31 


472  SEDAN, 


SYNOPSIS  OF  PRINCIPAL  EVENTS,  CHIEFLY  MILITARY,  BETWEEN 

THE  BATTLE  OF  SEDAN,  1870,  AND  THE  BATTLES  OF 

MANILA  BAY  AND  SANTIAGO,  1898. 

A.D.  1870.  Proclamation  of  the  French  RepubHc.  Fall  of  Metz 
and  surrender  of  Bazaine.  The  Italian  forces  occupy  Rome.  An- 
nexation of  the  Papal  States  to  the  Kingdom  of  Italy. 

1871.  Capitulation  of  Paris,  and  signing  of  a  definitive  treaty 
of  peace  between  France  and  Germany.  William  I.  proclaimed 
Emperor  of  Germany.     Outbreak  of  the  Commune  in  Paris. 

1872.  The  Geneva  Tribunal  for  the  settlement  of  the  Alabama 
question  makes  an  award  to  the  United  States.  Outbreak  of  the 
Carlist  insurrection  in  Spain. 

1873.  Spain  is  declared  a  Federal  Republic.  Capture  of  the 
American  steamship  Virginius  by  a  Spanish  gun-boat,  and  execu- 
tion of  her  crew  at  Santiago  de  Cuba.  Spain  apologizes  and  gives 
up  the  vessel.  Outbreak  of  the  Ashantee  War.  Russian  ex- 
pedition to  Khiva. 

1874.  The  Carlists  in  Spain  suffer  severe  repulses  and  Alphonso 
XII.  is  proclaimed  king.  Capture  of  Koomassie  and  end  of  the 
Ashantee  War. 

1876.  Servia  and  Montenegro  declare  war  against  the  Porte. 

1877.  Russia  declares  war  against  Turkey.  The  siege  of  Kars 
raised.  The  Turks  win  the  first  battle  of  Plevna.  Fall  of 
Nicopolis.  The  Russians  are  victorious  at  Aladja.  Storming  of 
Kars.  Osman  Pasha  is  forced  to  surrender  at  Plevna.  Russian 
victory  at  Shipka  Pass.  The  Treaty  of  Berlin  terminates  the 
war.     The  British  take  possession  of  the  Transvaal  Republic. 

1878.  The  British  occupy  Afghanistan  and  capture  Cabul. 
Close  of  Ten  Years'  War  by  Cuban  revolutionists  against  Spanish 
rule. 

1879.  War  between  Great  Britain  and  the  Zulus.  Louis  Napo- 
leon, Prince  Imperial,  with  British  forces  in  Zululand,  killed  while 
reconnoitring.  Capture  of  Cetewayo.  Chili  engages  in  a  war 
against  Bolivia  and  Peru. 

1880.  The  Chilians  are  victorious  at  Tacna  and  blockade  Callao. 

1881.  President  Garfield  assassinated.  Revolt  of  the  Mahdi, 
or  False  Prophet,  in  the  Soudan. 

1882.  Bombardment  of  Alexandria  by  British  fleet.  Battle  of 
Tel-el-Kebir,  in  which  the  British  defeat  Arabi  Pasha. 

1883.  French  protectorate  estabhshed  over  Annam.  The  Mah- 
di annihilates  an  Egyptian  army  under  Hicks  Pasha.  End  of  the 
Chilian-Peruvian  War. 

1884.  General  Gordon  is  shut  up  in  Khartoum  by  the  Mahdi. 

1885.  Capture  of  Khartoum  by  the  Mahdi,  death  of  Gordon, 


SEDAN.  473 

and  withdrawal  of  the  British  forces  from  the  Soudan.  Louis  Riel 
heads  an  insurrection  in  Canada.  He  is  captured  and  executed. 
War  between  England  and  Burmah. 

1886.  Burmah  annexed  to  the  British  Empire. 

1887.  Renewal  of  the  Triple  AlUance  between  the  German 
Empire,  Austria-Hungary,  and  Italy.  The  Italians  are  defeated 
at  Massowah  by  King  John  of  Abyssinia. 

1888.  The  Boulanger  agitation  in  France.  A  revision  of  the 
Constitution  demanded. 

1889.  Brazil  proclaimed  a  republic. 

1890.  England  assumes  a  protectorate  over  Zanzibar. 

1891.  Civil  war  in  Chih. 

1892.  War  between  the  French  and  the  King  of  Dahomey. 

1893.  Revolution  in  Hawaii.     Queen  Liliuokalani  is  deposed. 

1894.  War  between  China  and  Japan.  Victory  of  the  Japanese 
at  Ping  Yang.  The  Japanese  win  the  naval  battle  of  the  Yalu 
and  capture  Port  Arthur. 

1895.  Peace  of  Shimonoseki.  China  recognizes  the  indepen- 
dence of  Korea,  and  cedes  Formosa  and  the  peninsula  of  Liao- 
Tung  to  Japan.  The  threats  of  European  powers  compel  Japan 
to  relinquish  the  latter  to  China.  Message  of  President  Cleveland 
relative  to  the  boundary  dispute  between  England  and  Venezuela. 
Spain  declares  martial  law  in  Cuba.  Revolutionists  proclaim 
Cuban  independence,  adopt  a  constitution,  establish  a  repubUcan 
government,  and  display  the  flag  of  the  revolution  of  1868-78. 

1896.  The  Jameson  raid  into  the  Transvaal.  The  Boers  capt- 
ure raiders. 

1897.  Fierce  conflicts  between  the  Christian  and  Mohammedan 
inhabitants  of  Crete.  Greece  makes  war  upon  Turkey,  is  disas- 
trously defeated  in  several  battles,  and  obliged  to  sue  for  peace. 

1898.  The  U.  S.  battle-ship  Maine  is  blown  up  in  Havana  Har- 
bor on  the  night  of  February  15th.  On  April  20th  Congress  directs 
the  President  to  intervene  between  Spain  and  Cuba.  On  April 
23d  the  President  issues  a  call  for  125,000  volunteers,  and  on  April 
26th  Congress  authorizes  an  increase  of  the  regular  army  to  61,919 
officers  and  men.  On  April  25th  Congress  declares  war  between 
Spain  and  the  United  States  as  existing  since  April  21st. 


474  THE   BATTLE   OF   MANILA    BAY. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE   BATTLE   OP  MANILA   BAY,    1898. 

For  more  than  a  century  the  island  of  Cuba  had  been  an  object 
of  peculiar  interest  and  concern  to  the  United  States.*  During 
the  first  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  fear  was  that  Cuba 
might  be  acquired  by  Great  Britain  or  France,  and  thus  a  strong 
European  power  would  be  established  at  the  very  gate  of  the 
American  republic.  Manifestly,  it  was  then  the  policy  of  the 
United  States  to  guarantee  the  possession  of  the  island  to  Spain. 
But  after  the  Mexican  War  the  idea  of  exterritorial  expansion 
entered  more  and  more  largely  into  American  statesmanship. 
The  South  looked  upon  Cuba  as  a  desirable  addition  to  slave- 
holding  territory,  and  it  was  apparent  to  every  eye  that  the 
island  occupied  an  all-important  strategic  position  in  relation  to 
the  proposed  canal  routes  across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama. 

In  1822  propositions  for  annexation  came  from  Cuba  to  the 
United  States,  and  Monroe  sent  an  agent  to  investigate.  Later, 
annexation  was  a  recurrent  subject  favored  by  the  South,  which 
saw  a  field  for  the  extension  of  slavery.  In  1848  the  American 
minister  at  Madrid  was  instructed  by  President  Polk  to  sound 
the  Spanish  government  upon  the  question  of  sale  or  cession. 
But  Spain  declined  even  to  consider  such  a  proposition.  In  1854 
the  so-called  "Ostend  Manifesto,"  drawn  up  by  James  Buchanan, 
John  Y.  Mason,  and  Pierre  Soule  (respectively  United  States 
ministers  to  England,  France,  and  Spain),  declared  in  plain  lan- 
guage that  the  "Union  can  never  enjoy  repose  nor  possess 
reliable  security  as  long  as  Cuba  is  not  embraced  within  its 
boundaries."  It  went  on  to  advise  the  seizing  of  the  coveted 
territory  in  case  Spain  refused  to  sell.  The  administration  of 
President  Pierce  never  directly  sanctioned  the  proposition  ad- 
vanced in  such  extraordinary  terms,  and  Marcy,  the  Secretary  of 
State,  repudiated  it  unqualifiedly.  So  the  matter  fell  again  into 
abeyance  until  in  1873  the  Virginius,  an  American  schooner  sus- 
pected of  conveying  arms  and  ammunition  to  the  Cuban  insur- 

*  See  the  chapter  on  the  Monroe  Doctrine  in  The  Rise  of  the  New  West,  by 
Prof.  F.  J.  Turner,  and  also  chaps,  i.  and  xi.  of  America  as  a  World  Power, 
by  Prof.  G.  H.  Latane.     {The  American  Nation,  Harper  &  Brothers.) 


THE  BATTLE  OF  MANILA   BAY.  475 

gents,  was  captured  by  a  Spanish  gun-boat  and  taken  to  Havana. 
As  a  result  of  the  trial,  many  insurgents,  together  with  six  Brit- 
ish subjects  and  thirty  American  citizens,  were  executed.  For 
a  time  international  complications  seemed  certain,  but  finally 
Spain  made  proper  apologies  and  surrendered  the  Virginius  and 
the  survivors  of  her  crew. 

The  Cuban  "Ten  Years'  War,"  from  1868  to  1878,  was  charac- 
terized by  great  cruelty  and  destructive  losses  of  life  and  prop- 
erty m  which  American  interests  were  now  deeply  involved. 
President  Grant  seriously  considered  and  even  threatened  inter- 
vention, which  would  have  meant  annexation ;  but  Spain  prom- 
ised definite  reforms,  and  the  old  conditions  were  continued. 

When  the  insurrection  of  1895  began,  American  citizens  owned 
at  least  fifty  millions  of  property  in  the  island  and  American 
commerce  amounted  to  a  hundred  millions  annually.  Both  on 
the  Spanish  and  Cuban  side  outrages  were  of  daily  occurrence, 
and  the  situation  quickly  became  intolerable.  The  McKinley 
administration  ventured  upon  a  mild  remonstrance  against  the 
inhumanities  of  Captain-General  Weyler,  and  the  Spanish  au- 
thorities replied  evasively.  Finally  the  United  States  formally 
offered  its  good  offices  for  the  adjustment  of  Cuban  affairs,  pre- 
sumably on  a  basis  of  independence.  Spain  declared  that  it  was 
her  intention  to  grant  autonomy  to  the  island,  and  the  decree  was 
actually  published  on  November  27,  1897.  But  it  was  now  too 
late,  and  the  unhappy  conditions  grew  worse  day  by  day. 

There  had  been  riots  at  Havana  itself,  and  it  was  thought  ad- 
visable to  send  the  United  States  cruiser  Maine  on  a  friendly 
visit  to  that  port.  The  Maine  arrived  at  Havana  on  January 
25,  1898.  On  the  night  of  February  15  the  Maine  was  blown  up 
while  lying  at  her  harbor  moorings,  with  a  ghastly  loss  of  life. 
The  American  Court  of  Inquiry  found  that  the  ship  was  destroyed 
from  the  outside;  the  Spanish  inquiry  resulted  in  a  verdict  that 
the  ship  was  destroyed  from  causes  within  herself.  At  the  time 
there  was  an  outburst  of  passion  throughout  the  United  States, 
and  Spain  was  held  guilty  of  an  atrocious  crime.  While  the  ex- 
act cause  of  the  disaster  has  never  been  finally  determined,  it  is 
the  verdict  of  calmer  and  more  distant  consideration  that  official 
Spain  must  be  acquitted.  At  the  time,  however,  this  tragedy 
powerfully  reinforced  the  efforts  of  Cubans  and  the  pressure  of 
financial  interests  to  secure  American  support.  When  Senator  ^ 
Redfield  Proctor,  of  Vermont,  a  man  of  peculiarly  dispassionate 
temperament,  made  pubHc  his  account  of  the  suffering  which  he 
had  witnessed  among  the  reconcentrados  (collections  of  native  Cu- 
bans, particularly  women  and  children,  herded  together  by  Span- 
ish troops),  the  sympathies  of  Americans  were  stirred  even  more 
deeply.    Ministers  preached  intervention  from  their  pulpits.    Many 


476  TITE  BATTLE  OF  MANILA   BAY. 

newspapers  demanded  intervention.  Yellow  journals  clamored  for 
an  ultimatum  backed  by  arms.  Congress  was  carried  away  by  the 
wave  of  intense  feeling,  although  President  McKinley  thought  that 
a  solution  could  be  reached  without  an  appeal  to  arms — a  belief  in 
which  the  final  verdict  of  history  will  probably  agree,  although  it 
was  inevitable  that  Spain  should  resign  control  of  Cuba.  But  the 
President  was  powerless  against  the  popular  sentiment. 

On  April  25  war  with  Spain  was  formally  declared,  and  for 
the  first  time  in  over  three-quarters  of  a  century  the  republic  of 
the  West  found  itself  arrayed  in  arms  against  a  European  nation. 

The  situation  had  its  peculiar  features.  It  had  been  assumed 
that  the  principal  theatre  of  conflict  would  be  the  island  of  Cuba, 
and  consequently  the  American  campaign  must  be  one  of  in- 
vasion. But  the  Spaniards,  owing  to  the  civil  war  in  the  colony, 
were  in  virtually  the  same  position — fighting  at  a  distance  from 
their  base  of  supplies. 

In  material  resources  the  United  States  ranked  immeasurably 
superior.  True,  the  numerical  strength  of  the  regular  army  was 
small,  but  behind  it  stood  thousands  of  State  militia  and  millions 
of  available  reserves.  Moreover,  the  United  States  was  classed 
among  the  richest  of  nations  and  Spain  among  the  poorest.  So 
far  as  the  land  operations  were  concerned,  the  final  issue  could 
not  be  doubtful. 

In  naval  strength,  however,  there  was  less  disparity.  On 
paper  the  United  States  ranked  sixth  among  the  world  powers, 
while  Spain  occupied  eighth  place.  But  the  United  States,  with 
its  thousands  of  miles  of  coast  on  both  the  Altantic  and  the 
Pacific  seaboards,  was  unquestionably  vulnerable.  Coast  defences 
were  admittedly  inadequate,  and  it  was  conceivable  that  one 
swift  dash  by  a  Spanish  squadron  might  endanger  milUons  of 
property  at  Boston,  New  York,  and  Baltimore;  at  San  Francisco, 
Portland,  and  Seattle. 

The  situation  on  the  Pacific  Coast  seemed  even  more  delicate 
than  that  on  the  Eastern  seaboard.  There  was  a  formidable 
Spanish  squadron  at  Manila  in  the  Philippine  Islands,  and  all 
depended  upon  the  fighting  ability  of  the  American  Pacific  fleet; 
if  Dewey  failed,  the  Western  States  of  America  were  absolutely  at 
the  mercy  of  the  enemy. 

For  more  than  a  month  Commodore  Dewey  had  lain  with  his 
fleet  in  the  harbor  of  Hong-Kong,  waiting  for  events  to  shape 
themselves.  In  anticipation  of  the  coming  strife,  and  the  con- 
sequent declaration  of  neutrality  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain, 
the  American  commander  had  purchased  two  transport  steamers, 
together  with  ten  thousand  tons  of  coal.  He  was  thus  prepared 
for  prompt  and  decisive  action. 
•  War  had  been  declared  on  April  25,  and  the  American  squadron 


THE   BATTLE   OF   MANILA    BAY.  477 

immediately  left  Hong-Kong  for  Mirs  Bay,  some  thirty  miles  away. 
On  April  26  Commodore  Dewey  received  the  following  despatch: 

"Washington,  April  26. 
"Dewey,  Asiatic    Squadron, — Commence    operations    at    once, 
particularly  against  the  Spanish  fleet.     You  must  capture  or  destro}^ 
them.  McKinley." 

On  April  27  the  American  fleet  sailed  for  Manila,  six  hundred 
and  twenty-eight  miles  away,  and  on  the  morning  of  Saturday, 
April  30,  Luzon  was  sighted,  and  the  ships  were  ordered  to 
clear  for  action. 

Under  Commodore  George  Dewey  were  the  Olympia,  the  Boston, 
the  Petrel,  the  Concord,  the  Raleigh,  and  the  Baltimore.  The 
only  armored  vessel  in  the  squadron  was  the  Olympia,  the  pro- 
tective belting,  four  inches  thick,  being  around  the  turret  guns. 
The  auxiliary  force  was  made  up  of  the  revenue-cutter  McCulloch 
and  two  transports,  the  Vaughan  and  the  Zafiro.  Altogether,  the 
American  fighting  force  included  four  cruisers,  two  gun-boats, 
fifty-seven  classified  big  guns,  seventy-four  rapid-fire  and  machine 
guns,  and  1808  men.  On  the  other  side,  Rear-Admiral  Montojo 
commanded  seven  cruisers,  five  gun-boats,  two  torpedo-boats, 
fifty-two  classified  big  guns,  eighty-three  rapid-fire  and  machine 
guns,  and  1948  men.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  Americans 
mounted  a  few  more  heavy  guns,  but  the  Spanish  had  several 
more  ships  and  over  a  hundred  more  men.  Moreover,  the 
Spanish  ships  were  assisted  by  the  fort  and  land  batteries  at 
Manila,  and  they  also  possessed  the  great  advantage  of  range- 
marks.  Finally,  the  ship  channels  were  supposed  to  be  amply 
protected  by  mines  and  submarine  batteries.  After  satisfying 
himself  that  the  ships  of  the  enemy  were  not  in  Subig  Bay,  Com- 
modore Dewey  resolved  to  enter  Manila  Bay  the  same  night.  It 
was  known  that  the  channel  had  been  mined,  but  that  risk  must 
be  taken.  With  all  lights  except  the  stern  ones  extinguished, 
the  American  vessels  steamed  steadily  onward ;  finally,  Corregidor 
Island,  with  its  lofty  light-house,  came  into  view,  and  the  fleet 
swept  into  the  main  ship  channel  known  as  the  Boca  Grande. 

Up  to  this  point  no  sign  had  been  made  by  the  enemy  that  the 
approach  of  the  American  ships  had  been  discovered,  although 
the  night  was  moonUt  and  it  was  only  a  little  after  eleven  o'clock. 
Then  a  fireman  on  the  McCulloch  threw  some  soft  coal  in  the 
furnace  and  a  shower  of  sparks  flew  from  the  cutter's  funnel.  A 
solitary  rocket  ascended  from  Corregidor,  and  there  was  an 
answering  hght  from  the  mainland.  At  a  quarter-past  eleven  a 
bugle  sounded,  and  from  the  shore  batteries  came  a  blinding  glare, 
followed  by  the  boom  of  a  heavy  gun — the  first  shot  of  the  Spanish- 
American  War. 


478 


THE   BATTLE   OF   MANILA    BAY, 


The  Raleigh  had  the  honor  of  replying  for  the  American  side, 
and  the  Boston  followed  quickly.  A  well-aimed  six-inch  shell 
from  the  Concord  plumped  into  the  Spanish  fort;  there  was  a 
crash  and  a  cry,  and  all  was  still.     The  forts  had  been  silenced. 

At  slow  speed  the  squadron  moved  onward,  for  Commodore 
Dewey  did  not  wish  to  arrive  at  Manila  before  dawn.  Some  of 
the  men  managed  to  get  a  little  sleep,  but  the  ever-present  danger 
of  torpedoes  and  the  excitement  of  the  approaching  battle  were 
not  conducive  to  peaceful  slumbers. 

The  morning  of  Sunday,  May  1,  dawned  clear  and  beautiful, 
although  the  day  promised  to  be  hot.  The  squadron  found  itself 
directly  across  the  bay  from  the  city  of  Manila;  and  there,  under 
the  guns  of  Cavite,  lay  the  Spanish  fleet. 


^  0  G  A        G  B  ^ 


BATTLE   OP   MANILA   BAY 


Ac(^ording  to  Commodore  Dewey's  report,  the  shore  batteries 
began  firing  at  a  quarter-past  five.  The  Olympia,  flying  the 
signal  "Remember  the  Maine,"  led  the  American  column,  fol- 
lowed closely  by  the  Baltimore^  Raleigh,  Petrel,  Concord,  and 
Boston  in  the  order  named.  The  ships  came  on  in  a  line  approxi- 
mately parallel  to  that  of  the  enemy,  reserving  their  fire  until 
within  effective  range.    As  the  fleet  advanced  two  submarine 


THE  BATTLE  OF  MANILA   BAY,  479 

mines  wore  exploded,  but  neither  did  any  damage.  At  twenty 
minutes  to  six  Commodore  Dewey  shouted  to  Captain  Grid- 
ley  in  the  conning-tower  of  the  flagship:  "Fire  as  soon  as  you 
get  ready,  Gridley."  Instantly  the  Olympia  discharged  her 
broadside,  the  Baltimore  followed  the  lead,  and  each  successive 
ship  in  turn  discharged  every  gun  that  could  be  brought  to  bear. 
The  Spanish  returned  the  fire  with  great  energy,  but  with  incon- 
clusive results.  Several  of  the  American  ships  were  struck,  but 
no  casualties  followed.  Lieutenant  Brumby,  of  the  flag-ship,  had 
the  signal  halyards  shot  out  of  his  hands;  a  shot  passed  clean 
through  the  Baltimore,  and  another  smashed  into  the  foremast  of 
the  Boston.  Incessantly  firing,  the  battle-hne  steamed  past  the 
whole  length  of  the  stationary  Spanish  fleet,  then  swung  slowly 
around,  and  began  the  countermarch.  Once  Montojo's  flag-ship, 
the  Reina  Cristina,  made  a  desperate  attempt  to  leave  the  line  and 
engage  at  close  quarters,  but  she  was  quickly  driven  back. 

A  little  after  half-past  seven  the  American  commander  ordered 
the  firing  to  be  stopped,  and  the  fleet  headed  for  the  eastern  side 
of  the  bay  for  breakfast  and  a  redistribution  of  ammunition  for 
the  big  guns.  The  Spaniards,  seeing  the  withdrawal  of  the  Amer- 
ican vessels,  rashly  concluded  that  the  enemy  had  been  repulsed 
and  raised  a  feeble  cheer.  In  reality  they  were  hopelessly  beaten: 
several  of  their  ships  were  on  fire,  the  decks  of  all  were  covered 
with  dead  and  dying  men,  and  ammunition  was  running  low. 

At  a  quarter-past  eleven  the  battle  was  renewed.  Several  of 
the  Spanish  ships  were  now  disabled  and  on  fire,  and  Admiral 
Montojo  had  been  forced  to  transfer  his  flag  to  the  Isla  de  Cuba. 

A  few  minutes  later  the  Reina  Cristina,  his  former  flag-ship, 
was  blazing  from  end  to  end,  and  the  explosion  of  her  magazine 
completed  the  destruction  of  the  vessel. ,  One  after  another  the 
Spanish  ships  succumbed  under  the  storm  of  shot  and  shell,  and 
either  surrendered  or  were  cut  to  pieces.  The  Don  Antonio  de 
Ulloa,  riddled  like  a  sieve  and  on  fire  in  a  dozen  places,  refused  to 
acknowledge  defeat,  and  went  down  with  colors  flying.  Finally, 
Admiral  Montojo  hauled  down  his  flag,  and,  leaving  the  Isla  de 
Cuba,  escaped  to  the  shore.  The  arsenal  building  at  Cavite  ran 
up  the  white  flag,  and  at  half -past  one  Commodore  Dewey  sig- 
nalled to  his  ships  that  they  might  anchor  at  discretion. 

Never  was  victory  more  decisive.  Not  a  man  had  been  killed 
on  the  American  side,  and  but  four  men  were  wounded — this 
through  the  explosion  of  a  Spanish  shell  on  the  Baltimore.  None 
of  the  American  ships  received  any  material  damage.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  following  Spanish  ships  were  completely  destroyed : 
Reina  Cristina  (flag-ship),  Castilla,  Don  Antonio  de  Ulloa,  Don 
Juan  de  Austria,  Isla  de  Luzon,  Isla  de  Cuba,  Marquiz  del  Duero, 
General   Lezo,   Correo,    Velasco,    and   Isla   de  Mandanao,    The 


480  THE  BATTLE  OF  MANILA    BAY, 

casualties  on  the  Spanish  side  amounted  to  about  four  hundred 
men.  Moreover,  the  water-batteries  of  Cavite  had  been  demol- 
ished, the  arsenal  had  been  captured,  and  the  city  of  Manila  lay- 
defenceless  under  the  guns  of  the  American  fleet. 

But  Commodore  Dewey's  difficulties  were  by  no  means  at  an 
end.  He  had  immediately  proclaimed  a  blockade  of  the  port. 
The  German  Pacific  squadron,  under  Vice-Admiral  von  Diederich, 
had  arrived  at  Manila  shortly  after  the  battle,  and  were,  of  course, 
in  the  position  of  neutrals,  having  access  to  the  harbor  merely 
on  the  ground  of  international  courtesy.  This  privilege  the  Ger- 
mans quickly  began  to  abuse,  disregarding  Commodore  Dewey's 
regulations  at  will,  and  committing  various  acts  inconsistent 
with  the  neutrality  laws.  Their  attitude  was  both  annoying 
and  insolent,  and  it  was  evident  that  it  must  be  promptly  and 
effectually  checked  if  the  American  supremacy  were  to  be  main- 
tained. 

At  last  the  opportunity  came.  Commodore  Dewey  learned,  on 
unquestionable  authority,  that  one  of  the  German  vessels  had 
been  landing  provisions  at  Manila,  thereby  violating  neutrality. 
He  immediately  sent  a  vigorous  protest  to  Admiral  von  Diederich 
— a  message  that  ended  with  these  significant  words:  "  And,  Brum- 
by, tell  Admiral  von  Diederich  that  if  he  wants  a  fight  he  can  have 
it  right  now." 

That  was  enough.  The  German  admiral  was  not  quite  ready  to 
involve  his  country  in  a  war  with  the  United  States;  he  made  a 
humble  apology,  and  the  incident  was  closed. 

On  June  30  the  first  army  expedition  from  the  United  States 
arrived  at  Manila,  and  Commodore  Dewey's  long  vigil  was  at  an 
end,  the  succeeding  operations  in  the  PhiHppines  being  almost 
exclusively  military,  and  consisting  of  the  capture  of  the  city  of 
Manila  by  the  Americans  and  subsequent  warfare  with  Aguinaldo 
and  insurgent  Fihpinos. 

Such,  in  large  outline,  was  the  battle  of  Manila  Bay.  Foreign 
critics  have  derided  American  enthusiasm  on  the  ground  that  the 
American  fleet  was  far  superior,  that  the  Spanish  vessels,  many  of 
them  mere  gun-boats,  lacked  armor  and  adequate  guns,  and  that 
they  were  imperfectly  manned.  Yet  the  same  critics  ranked  the 
naval  forces  of  Spain  as  quite  equal  to  the  American  at  the  out- 
set of  the  war.  Furthermore,  the  action  of  Dewey,  without  a 
single  battle-ship  or  torpedo-boat  under  his  command,  in  entering 
a  mined  harbor  without  waiting  to  countermine,  and  in  attacking 
a  fleet  whose  strength  was  not  accurately  known,  under  the  guns 
of  land  batteries,  must  be  classed  among  the  distinctive  achieve- 
ments of  naval  history.  The  battle  was  decisive  in  its  immediate 
outcome,  far-reaching  in  its  ultimate  consequences.  Dewey's 
victory  but  presaged  the  final  triumph  of  American  arms.    The 


THE  BATTLE  OF  MANILA    BAY.  481 

Battle  of  Manila  Bay  meant  the  expulsion  of  Spain  from  the 
Pacific,  and  the  succession  of  the  United  States  to  Spain's  heri- 
tage of  Asiatic  power.  Pohtically,  therefore,  in  its  establishment 
of  the  United  States  as  a  power  in  the  Orient,  Manila  Bay  is  to  be 
placed  among  the  decisive  battles  of  history.* 

*  The  War  icUh  Spain,  by  Henry  Cabot  Lodge,  and  The  Spanish  War,  by 
Gen.  Russell  A.  Alger,  may  be  consulted  with  advantage.  Both  are  published 
by  Harper  &  Brothers.  Harper's  Encyclopcedia  of  United  States  History,  vol. 
6,  affords  a  picturesque  account  of  the  Battle  of  Manila  Bay,  by  Ramon  Reyes 
Lala,  a  Filipino  author  and  lecturer.  Professor  Latane's  account  of  the  war 
in  his  America  as  a  World  Power  (Harper  &  Brothers),  offers  an  excellent 
example  of  judicial  historical  treatment. 


482        THE  BATTLES  OF  SANTIAGO  DE  CUBA, 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   BATTLES   OF   SANTIAGO,    1898. 

I 

THE    FIRST    PERIOD    OF    THE    SPANISH-AMERICAN    WAR    IN    THE    WEST    INDIES. 

President  Roosevelt  once  said  that  the  most  striking  thing 
about  the  war  with  Spain  was  the  preparedness  of  the  navy  and 
the  unpreparedness  of  the  army.  For  fifteen  years  the  United 
States  had  been  building  up  a  navy,  and  for  months  preceding 
the  war  every  effort  was  made,  with  the  resources  at  the  command 
of  the  navy  department,  to  put  it  in  a  state  of  first-class  efficiency. 
As  early  as  January  11,  1898,  instructions  were  sent  to  the  com- 
manders of  the  several  squadrons  to  retain  in  the  service  men 
whose  terms  of  enlistment  were  about  to  expire.  As  the  Cuban 
situation  grew  more  threatening,  the  North  Atlantic  Squadron 
and  a  torpedo-boat  flotilla  were  rapidly  assembled  in  Florida 
waters;  and  immediately  after  the  destruction  of  the  Maine  the 
ships  on  the  European  and  South  Atlantic  stations  were  ordered 
to  Key  West 

Both  from  a  political  and  a  military  point  of  view  the  blockade 
of  Cuba  was  the  first  step  for  the  American  government  to  take, 
and  the  surest  and  quickest  means  of  bringing  things  to  an  issue. 
Cuba  was  the  point  in  dispute  between  the  United  States  and 
Spain,  and  a  blockade  would  result  in  one  of  two  things — the 
surrender  of  the  island  or  the  despatch  of  a  Spanish  naval  force 
to  its  relief.  The  navy  department  had  very  little  apprehension 
of  an  attack  on  our  coast,  as  no  squadron  could  hope  to  be  in 
condition  after  crossing  the  Atlantic  for  offensive  operations  with- 
out coaling,  and  the  only  places  where  Spain  could  coal  were  in 
the  West  Indies.  The  public,  however,  took  a  different  view  of 
the  situation,  and  no  little  alarm  was  felt  in  the  Eastern  cities. 
A  few  coast-defence  guns  of  modern  pattern  would  have  relieved 
the  department  of  the  necessity  of  protecting  the  coast,  and 
enabled  it  to  concentrate  the  whole  fighting  force  around  Cuba. 
To  meet  popular  demands,  however,  a  Northern  Patrol  Squadron 
was  organized  April  20,  under  command  of  Commodore  Howell, 
to  cover  the  New  England  coast;  and  a  more  formidable  Flying 


THE   BATTLES   OF   SANTIAGO   DE   CUBA.         483 

Squadron,  under  Commodore  Schley,  was  assembled  at  Hampton 
Roads,  and  kept  there  until  the  appearance  of  the  Spanish  fleet 
in  the  West  Indies.  The  main  squadron  was  stationed  at  Key 
West  under  Rear-Admiral  WiUiam  T.  Sampson,  who  had  just 
been  promoted  to  that  grade,  and  given  command  of  the  entire 
naval  force  in  North  Atlantic  waters.  His  appointment  over  the 
heads  of  Schley  and  other  officers  of  superior  rank  and  longer 
service  created  a  great  deal  of  criticism,  although  he  was  every- 
where conceded  to  be  one  of  the  most  efficient  and  progressive 
officers  of  the  new  navy.* 

One  hundred  and  twenty-eight  ships  [steam  merchantmen,  rev- 
enue-cutters, light-house  tenders,  yachts,  and  ocean  liners]  were 
added  to  the  navy,  and  the  government  yards  were  kept  busy 
transforming  them.  To  man  these  ships  the  number  of  enHsted 
men  was  raised  from  12,500  to  24,123,  and  a  number  of  new  officers 
appointed. t  The  heavy  fighting  force  consisted  of  four  first- 
class  battle-ships,  the  Indiana,  Iowa,  Massachusetts,  and  Oregon; 
one  second-class  battle-ship,  the  Texas  ;  and  two  armored  cruisers, 
the  Brooklyn  and  the  New  York.  As  against  these  seven  armored 
ships  Spain  had  five  armored  cruisers  of  modern  construction 
and  of  greater  reputed  speed  than  any  of  ours  except  the  Brook- 
lyn and  the  New  York,  and  one  battle-ship  of  the  Indiana  type. 
Spain  had  further  a  type  of  vessel  unknown  to  our  navy  and 
greatly  feared  by  us — namely,  torpedo-boat  destroyers,  such  as 
the  Furor,  Pluton,  and  Terror.  It  was  popularly  supposed  that 
the  Spanish  navy  was  somewhat  superior  to  the  American. 

As  soon  as  the  Spanish  minister  withdrew  from  Washington,  a 
despatch  was  sent  to  Sampson  at  Key  West  directing  him  to 
blockade  the  coast  of  Cuba  immediately  from  Cardenas  to  Bahia 
Honda,  and  to  blockade  Cienfuegos  if  it  was  considered  advisable. 
On  April  29,  Admiral  Cervera's  division  of  the  Spanish  fleet  left 
the  Cape  de  Verde  Islands  for  an  unknown  destination,  and  dis- 
appeared for  two  weeks  from  the  knowledge  of  the  American 
authorities.  This  fleet  was  composed  of  four  armored  cruisers, 
the  Infanta  Maria  Teresa,  Cristobal  Colon,  Oquendo,  and  Vizcaya, 
and  three  torpedo-boat  destroyers.  Its  appearance  in  American 
waters  was  eagerly  looked  for,  and  interest  in  the  war  became 
intense.  .  .  . 

[In  the  next  two  weeks  Sampson's  patrol  of  the  Windward 
Islands  and  adjacent  waters,  and  his  visit  to  San  Juan,  Porto 
Rico,  produced  no  discoveries,  and  he  started  to  return  to  the 
blockade  of  Havana.  At  midnight.  May  12-13,  thirty-six  hours 
after  the  event,  the  navy  department  learned  that  Cervera  had 

*  Long,  New  Am.  Navy,  I.,  209. 

t  Messages  and  Docs.,  Abridgment,  1898-1899,  XL,  921. 


484         THE  BATTLES  OF  SANTIAGO   DE  CUBA, 

appeared  off  Martinique.  Sampson,  with  his  fleet,  and  Schley, 
with  the  Flying  Squadron,  were  ordered  to  Key  West,  which  they 
reached  on  May  18.] 

The  department  had  heard  that  Cervera  had  munitions  of  war 
essential  to  the  defence  of  Havana,  and  that  his  orders  were  to 
reach  Havana,  Cienfuegos,  or  a  port  connected  with  Havana  by 
rail.  As  Cienfuegos  seemed  the  only  place  he  would  be  likely  to 
choose,  Schley  was  ordered  there  with  the  Brooklyn,  Massachusetts, 
and  Texas,  May  19.  He  was  joined  later  by  the  Iowa,  under 
Captain  Evans,  and  by  several  cruisers.  The  Spanish  squadron 
shpped  into  Santiago,  unobserved  by  the  cruisers  on  scouting 
duty.  May  19,  two  days  before  Schley  arrived  at  Cienfuegos,  so 
that  had  Cervera  known  the  conditions  he  could  easily  have  made 
the  latter  port.  On  the  same  day  the  department  received  from 
spies  in  Havana  probable  information,  conveyed  by  the,  cable 
which  had  been  allowed  to  remain  in  operation,  that  Cervera  had 
entered  Santiago.  As  we  now  know,  he  had  entered  early  that 
morning.  Several  auxihary  cruisers  were  immediately  ordered 
to  assemble  before  Santiago  in  order  to  watch  Cervera  and 
follow  him  in  case  he  should  leave. 

At  the  same  time  the  department  "strongly  advised"  Sampson 
to  send  Schley  to  Santiago  at  once  with  his  whole  command. 
Sampson  replied  that  he  had  decided  to  hold  Schley  at  Cienfuegos 
until  it  was  certain  that  the  Spanish  fleet  was  in  Santiago.  Later 
he  sent  a  despatch  to  Schley,  received  May  23,  ordering  him  to 
proceed  to  Santiago  if  satisfied  that  the  enemy  were  not  at  Ci- 
enfuegos.* The  next  dayf  Schley  started,  encountering  on  the 
run  much  rain  and  rough  weather,  which  seriously  delayed  the 
squadron.  At  5.30  p.m..  May  26,  he  reached  a  point  twenty- 
two  miles  south  of  Santiago,  where  he  was  joined  by  several  of 
the  auxiliary  cruisers  on  scouting  duty.  Captain  Sigsbee,  of  the 
St,  Paul,  informed  him  that  the  scouts  knew  nothing  positively 
about  the  Spanish  fleet.  The  collier  Merrimac  had  been  disabled, 
which  increased  the  difficulty  of  coaling.  At  7.45  p.m.,  a  little 
over  two  hours  after  his  arrival,  Schley  without  explanation 
signalled  to  the  squadron:  "Destination,  Key  West,  via  south 
side  of  Cuba  and  Yucatan  Channel,  as  soon  as  collier  is  ready; 
speed,  nine  knots."  Thus  began  the  much-discussed  retrograde 
movement,  which  occupied  two  days.  Admiral  Schley  states  in 
his  book  that  Sigsbee 's  report  and  other  evidence  led  him  to  con- 
clude that  the  Spanish  squadron  was  not  in  Santiago;  hence  the 

*  Sec.  of  the  Navy,  Annual  Report,  1898,  App.,  pp.  465,  466. 

t  It  was  on  this  date,  May  24,  that  the  Oregon,  Captain  Clark,  appeared  off 
Jupiter  Inlet,  Florida,  ready  for  action,  after  a  voyage  of  fourteen  thousand 
miles  from  San  Francisco. 


THE  BATTLES   OF   SANTIAGO   DE   CUBA,         485 

retrograde  movement  to  protect  the  passage  west  of  Cuba.*  But 
he  has  never  yet  given  any  satisfactory  explanation  why  he  did  not 
definitely  ascertain  the  facts  before  turning  back.  Fortunately 
the  squadron  did  not  proceed  very  far;  the  Unes  towing  the  collier 
parted  and  other  delays  occurred.  The  next  morning  Schley 
received  a  despatch  from  the  department  stating  that  all  the  in- 
formation at  hand  indicated  that  Cervera  was  in  Santiago,  but  he 
continued  on  his  westward  course  slowly  and  at  times  drifting 
while  some  of  the  ships  coaled.  The  next  day,  May  28,  Schley 
returned  to  Santiago,  arriving  before  that  port  about  dusk,  and 
established  a  blockade. f 

Admiral  Sampson  arrived  off  Santiago  June  1,  and  assumed 
direct  command  of  the  squadron.  The  blockade,  which  lasted 
for  over  a  month,  was  eagerly  watched  by  the  whole  American 
people.  The  most  thrilling  incident  was  the  daring  but  unsuccess- 
ful attempt  made  by  Lieutenant  Richmond  Pearson  Hobson  to 
sink  the  collier  Merrimac  across  the  entrance  to  Santiago  harbor, 
undertaken  by  direction  of  Admiral  Sampson.  Electric  torpedoes 
were  attached  to  the  hull  of  the  ship,  sea-valves  were  cut,  and 
anchor  chains  arranged  on  deck  so  that  she  could  be  brought  to 
a  sudden  stop.  Early  on  the  morning  of  June  3,  Hobson,  assisted 
by  a  crew  of  seven  seamen,  took  the  collier  into  the  entrance  of 
the  harbor  under  heavy  fire  and  sunk  her.  The  unfortunate 
shooting  away  of  her  steering-gear  and  the  failure  of  some  of  the 
torpedoes  to  explode  kept  the  ship  from  sinking  at  the  place  select- 
ed, so  that  the  plan  miscarried.  Hobson  and  his  men  escaped 
death  as  by  a  miracle,  but  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards.^ 


THE    LAND    CAMPAIGN. 

As  soon  as  Cervera  was  blockaded  in  Santiago  and  the  govern- 
ment was  satisfied  that  all  his  ships  were  with  him,  it  was  decided 
to  send  an  army  to  co-operate  with  the  navy.  Hitherto  the  war 
had  been  a  naval  war  exclusively,  and  the  two  hundred  thousand 
volunteers  who  had  responded  to  the  calls  of  the  President  in 
May  had  been  kept  in  camp  in  different  parts  of  the  country. 
Most  of  the  regular  infantry  and  cavalry,  together  with  several 
volunteer  regiments,  had  been  assembled  at  Tampa  and  organized 
as  the  Fifth  Army  Corps,  in  readiness  to  land  in  Cuba  as  soon  as 
the  navy  had  cleared  the  way.    Conspicuous  among  these  troops 

*  Schley,  Forty-five  Years  Under  the  Flag,  276. 

t  Sec.  of  the  Navy,  Annual  Report,  1898,  App.,  p.  402;  Long,  New  Am.  Navy, 
L,  258-287. 
t  Sec.  of  the  Navy,  Annual  Report,  1898,  App.,  p.  437. 


486         THE  BATTLES  OF  SANTIAGO   DE   CUBA. 

was  the  First  Volunteer  Cavalry,  popularly  known  as  Roosevelt's 
Rough  Riders,  a  regiment  which  through  the  energetic  efforts  of 
Dr.  Leonard  Wood,  an  army  surgeon,  who  became  its  colonel,  and 
Theodore  Roosevelt,  who  resigned  the  position  of  assistant  secre- 
tary of  the  navy  to  become  its  lieutenant-colonel,  had  been  en- 
listed, officered,  and  equipped  in  fifty  days.  It  was  recruited 
largely  from  Arizona,  New  Mexico,  and  Oklahoma,  and  had  in  its 
ranks  cowboys,  hunters,  ranchmen,  and  more  than  one  hundred 
and  sixty  full-blooded  Indians,  together  with  a  few  graduates  of 
Harvard,  Yale,  and  other  Eastern  colleges. 

Tampa  was  ill-suited  for  an  instruction  camp,  and  the  prepara- 
tions made  by  the  department  for  the  accommodation  and  pro- 
visioning of  such  large  bodies  of  men  were  wholly  inadequate. 
One  of  the  main  difficulties  was  the  inability  of  the  commissary 
and  quartermaster  departments,  hampered  by  red  tape,  senseless 
regulations,  and  political  appointees,  to  distribute  the  train-loads 
of  supplies  which  blocked  the  tracks  leading  to  Tampa;  so  great 
was  the  congestion  that  the  soldiers  could  not  even  get  their  mail. 
This  condition  continued  for  weeks.  The  great  majority  of  the 
troops  were  finally  sent  to  Santiago  to  fight  under  a  tropical  sun 
in  heavy  woollen  clothes;  lighter  clothing  was  not  supplied  to  them 
until  they  were  ready  to  return  to  Montauk  Point,  where  they 
needed  the  woollen.  The  sanitation  of  the  camp  was  poor  and 
the  water-supply  bad;  dysentery,  malaria,  and  typhoid  soon  made 
their  appearance.  Similar  conditions  prevailed  at  the  other 
camps.  The  administrative  inefficiency  of  the  war  department 
was  everywhere  revealed  in  striking  contrast  with  the  fine  record 
of  the  navy  department.  Secretary  Alger  had  been  too  much 
occupied  with  questions  of  patronage  to  look  after  the  real  needs 
of  the  service.  Although  war  had  been  regarded  for  months  as 
inevitable,  when  it  finally  came  the  department  was  found  to 
be  utterly  unprepared  to  equip  troops  for  service  in  Cuba.  As 
the  result  of  this  neglect,  for  which  it  should  be  said  Congress 
was  partly  responsible,  it  was  necessary  to  improvise  an  army — 
a  rather  serious  undertaking! 

It  had  been  the  original  intention  to  land  the  Fifth  Army  Corps 
at  Mariel,  near  Havana,  and  begin  operations  against  the  capital 
city  under  the  direct  supervision  of  General  Miles;  but  the  bottling- 
up  of  Cervera  at  Santiago  caused  a  change  of  plan,  and  General 
Miles,  who  still  expected  the  heavy  fighting  to  take  place  at 
Havana,  selected  Major-General  William  R.  Shafter  for  the  move- 
ment against  Santiago.  By  June  1  the  battle-ship  Indiana,  under 
Captain  Henry  C.  Taylor,. with  a  dozen  smaller  vessels,  was  ready 
to  convoy  the  expedition.  The  army  was  very  slow  in  embark- 
ing, and  it  was  not  until  June  8  that  the  force  was  ready  to  depart. 
Further  delay  was  caused  by  the  unfounded  rumor  that  a  Spanish 


THE  BATTLES  OF   SANTIAGO   DE   CUBA.         487 

cruiser  and  two  torpedo-boat  destroyers  had  been  sighted  off  the 
north  coast  of  Cuba.*  In  order  to  ascertain  whether  all  the 
Spanish  ships  were  at  Santiago,  Lieutenant  Victor  Blue,  of  the 
navy,  landed,  and  by  personal  observation  from  the  hills  back  of 
the  city  located  Cervera's  entire  division  in  the  harbor.  On  June 
14  the  transports,  about  thirty  in  number,  sailed  from  Tampa 
with  their  convoy.  They  were  crowded  and  ill-provided  with 
supplies,  the  whole  movement  showing  lack  of  experience  in 
handling  large  bodies  of  men.  The  expedition  consisted  of  815 
officers  and  16,072  enUsted  men,  regulars  with  the  exception  of 
the  Seventy-first  New  York  and  the  First  Volunteer  Cavalry.f 

The  expedition  under  Shafter  began  disembarking  at  Daiquiri 
on  the  morning  of  June  22,  and  by  night  six  thousand  men  had 
with  great  difficulty  been  put  ashore.  No  lighters  or  launches 
had  been  provided,  and  the  only  wharf,  a  small  wooden  one,  had 
been  stripped  of  its  flooring:  the  war  department  expected  the 
navy  to  look  after  these  matters.  In  addition,  the  troops  had 
been  crowded  into  the  transports. without  any  reference  to  order, 
officers  separated  from  their  commands,  artillery-pieces  on  one 
transport,  horses  on  another,  harness  on  a  third,  and  no  means 
of  finding  out  where  any  of  them  were.  By  the  aid  of  a  few 
launches  borrowed  from  the  battle  -  ships,  the  men  were  put 
ashore,  or  near  enough  to  wade  through  the  surf,  but  the 
animals  had  to  be  thrown  into  the  sea,  where  many  of  them 
perished,  some  in  their  bewilderment  swimming  out  to  sea  in- 
stead of  to  shore. 

General  Lawton  advanced  and  seized  Siboney  next  day,  and 
Kent's  division  landed  here,  eight  miles  nearer  Santiago.  General 
Wheeler  pushed  on  with  part  of  Young's  brigade,  and  on  the 
morning  of  the  24th  defeated  the  Spanish  force  at  La  Guasima, 
with  a  loss  of  one  officer  and  fifteen  men  killed,  six  officers  and 
forty-six  men  wounded. J  During  the  next  week  the  army,  in- 
cluding Garcia's  Cuban  command,  was  concentrated  at  Sevilla. 
These  were  trying  days.  The  troops  suffered  from  the  heavy 
rains,  poor  rations,  and  bad  camp  accommodations.  No  ade- 
quate provision  had  been  made  for  landing  supplies  or  for  trans- 
porting them  to  the  camps,  so  that  with  an  abundance,  such  as 
they  were,  aboard  the  transports,  the  soldiers  were  in  actual  want. 

On  June  30  it  was  decided  to  advance.  San  Juan  Hill,  a 
strategic  point  on  the  direct  road  to  Santiago,  could  not  be  taken 
or  held  while  the  Spaniards  occupied  El  Caney,  on  the  right  of  the 
American  advance.     The  country  was  a  jungle,  and  the  roads 

*  Sec.  of  the  Navy,  Annual  Report,  1898,  App.,  p.  667. 
t  Major-General  commanding  the  Army,  Report,  1898,  p.  149. 
t  Ibid.,  p.  162. 
32 


488         THE   BATTLES   OF   SANTIAGO   DE   CUBA. 

from  the  coast  little  more  than  bridle-paths.  Lawton  moved  out 
to  a  position  south  of  El  Caney  that  afternoon,  so  as  to  begin  the 
attack  early  next  morning.  Wheeler's  division  of  dismounted 
cavalry  and  Kent's  division  of  infantry  advanced  towards  El  Poso, 
accompanied  by  Grimes's  battery,  which  was  to  take  position 
early  in  the  morning  and  open  the  way  for  the  advance  towards 
San  Juan.  The  attack  at  this  point  was  to  be  delayed  until 
Lawton's  infantry  fire  was  heard  at  El  Caney.  After  forcing  the 
enemy  from  this  position,  Lawton  was  to  move  towards  Santiago 
and  take  position  on  Wheeler's  right.  Little  was  known  of  the 
ground  over  which  the  troops  were  to  move  or  the  position  and 
strength  of  the  forces  they  were  to  meet,  consequently  they  went 
into  battle  without  knowing  what  they  were  about  and  fought 
without  any  generalship  being  displayed.  General  Shafter  was 
too  ill  to  leave  his  headquarters  in  the  rear. 

At  El  Caney,  which  was  surrounded  by  trenches  and  block- 
houses, the  Spaniards  developed  unexpected  strength,  and  held 
Lawton  in  check  until  late  in  the  afternoon,  when  he  finally  carried 
the  position.  In  this  fight  about  thirty-five  hundred  Americans 
w^ere  engaged,  and  not  more  than  six  hundred  or  one  thousand 
Spaniards.  The  American  loss  was  four  officers  and  seventy-seven 
men  killed,  and  twenty-five  officers  and  three  hundred  and  thirty- 
five  men  wounded.  About  one  hundred  and  fifty  Spaniards  were 
captured,  and  between  three  hundred  and  four  hundred  killed 
and  wounded.* 

Meanwhile  there  had  been  a  desperate  fight  at  San  Juan  Hill. 
As  soon  as  Lawton's  musket-fire  was  heard  at  El  Caney,  Grimes's 
battery  opened  fire  from  El  Poso  on  the  San  Juan  block-house. 
This  fire  was  immediately  returned  by  the  enemy's  artillery,  who 
had  the  range,  and  a  number  of  men  were  killed.  The  Spaniards 
used  smokeless  powder,  which  made  it  difficult  to  locate  them, 
while  some  of  the  Americans  had  black  powder,  which  quickly 
indicated  their  position.  The  road  along  which  the  troops  had 
to  advance  was  so  narrow  and  rough  that' at  times  they  had  to 
proceed  in  column  of  twos.  The  progress  made  was  very  slow, 
and  the  long-range  guns  of  the  enemy  killed  numbers  of  men  before 
they  could  get  into  position  to  return  the  fire.  By  the  middle  of 
the  day  the  advance  had  crossed  the  river  and  lay  exposed  to  a 
galling  artillery  and  rifle  fire.  The  suffering  of  the  wounded, 
many  of  whom  lay  in  the  brush  for  hours  without  succor,  was  the 
most  terrible  feature  of  the  situation.     Hawkins's  brigade  lost 


*  Major-General  commanding  the  Army,  Report,  1898,  pp.  152,  169,  171, 
319,  366,  381.  [General  Vara  el  Rey,  one  of  the  bravest  of  the  Spanish 
officers,  was  the  leader  in  this  desperate  resistance,  and  was  killed  while  rally- 
ing his  men  in  the  village.— Editor.] 


CARIBBEAN         SEA 


PLAN   OF   MILITARY    OPERATIONS   AROUND   SANTIAGO, 


490         THE   BATTLES   OF   SANTIAGO   DE   CUBA. 

three  commanders  in  fifteen  minutes,  General  Wikoff  being  killed 
and  Colonels  Worth  and  Liscum  wounded. 

Finally,  after  completing  their  formation  and  proceeding  through 
brush  and  cactus  in  a  sweltering  heat,  many  of  the  troops  having 
been  exposed  to  fire  for  hours,  permission  to  advance  was  given. 
Carroll's  brigade  took  the  lead,  reinforced  on  the  right  by  the 
Rough  Riders  commanded  by  Roosevelt,  and  supported  by  the 
First  and  Tenth  regiments  of  Wood's  brigade.  The  troops 
charged  up  San  Juan  Hill  in  great  confusion,  the  roughness  of  the 
ground  and  wire-fence  obstructions  breaking  up  the  formations. 
Officers  and  men,  detached  from  their  regiments,  struggled  along 
in  groups,  but  the  bravery  and  pluck  of  the  individual  man  won 
the  day.  The  Rough  Riders,  although  raw  and  inexperienced,  ac- 
quitted themselves  creditably,  and,  together  with  troopers  of  the 
First  regiment  of  regulars,  were  the  first  to  reach  the  intrench- 
ments  of  the  enemy,  where  they  were  heroically  supported  by  the 
negro  troopers  of  the  Tenth  Cavalry.* 

After  occupying  San  Juan  Hill  the  troops  were  still  exposed  to 
a  constant  fire,  and  many  were  discouraged  and  wanted  to  retire, 
but  General  Wheeler,  who,  though  ill,  had  come  to  the  front  early 
in  the  afternoon,  put  a  stop  to  this  and  set  the  men  to  work 
fortifying  themselves.  The  next  day  Lawton  came  up  and  ad- 
vanced to  a  strong  position  on  Wheeler's  right.  The  fighting  was 
resumed  on  the  two  following  days,  but  about  noon,  July  3,  the 
Spaniards  ceased  firing.  The  losses  in  the  three  days'  fight  were 
eighteen  officers  and  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven  men  killed, 
sixty-five  officers  and  eight  hundred  and  forty-nine  men  woimded, 
and  seventy-two  men  missing.f  The  condition  of  the  troops  after 
the  battle  was  very  bad;  many  of  them  were  down  with  fever,  and 
all  were  suffering  from  lack  of  suitable  equipment  and  supplies. 
General  Shafter  cabled  to  the  secretary  of  war,  July  3,  that  it 
would  be  impossible  to  take  Santiago  by  storm  with  the  forces 
he  then  had,  and  that  he  was  "seriously  considering  withdraw- 
ing about  five  miles  and  taking  up  a  new  position  on  the  high 
ground  between  the  San  Juan  River  and  Siboney."t  The  de- 
struction of  Cervera's  fleet  the  same  day  materially  changed  the 
situation. 


*  Major-General  commanding  the  Army,  Beportt  1898,  pp.  147,  164,  172, 
305,  340,  341,  371,  391,  445,  590.  [When  the  troops  charged  from  the  edge 
of  the  woods  and  the  so-called  Bloody  Ford,  the  regulars  under  Hawkins  car- 
ried San  Juan  Hill  to  the  left,  while  the  Rough  Riders  charged  and  captured 
Kettle  Hill  to  the  right,  and  then  crossed  to  San  Juan  Hill  to  reinforce  the 
regulars  who  had  captured  it.— Editor.] 

t  Major-General  commanding  the  Army,  Report,  pp.  167, 173. 

%  Message  and  Docs.,  Ahridgment,  1898-1899,  I.,  270. 


THE  BATTLES  OF  SANTIAGO   DE  CUBA.        491 
III. 

THE    DESTRUCTION    OF    CERVKRA'S    FLEET. 

The  advance  made  by  the  American  troops  around  Santiago  on 
July  1  and  2  forced  the  Spanish  authorities  to  come  to  a  decision 
in  regard  to  Cervera^s  fleet.  Captain-General  Blanco  insisted  that 
the  fleet  should  not  be  captured  or  destroyed  without  a  fight. 
Cervera  refused  to  assume  the  responsibility  of  leaving  the  harbor, 
and  when  ordered  to  do  so  went  out  with  consummate  bravery, 
knowing  that  he  was  leading  a  forlorn-hope.  Sampson  seems  to 
have  been  under  the  impression  all  along  that  the  Spanish  squad- 
ron would  attempt  to  escape  at  night,  but  the  American  ships 
kept  in  so  close  to  the  shore,  with  dazzling  search-lights  directed 
against  the  entrance  of  the  harbor,  as  to  render  it  almost  impossible 
to  steer  a  ship  out.  On  the  morning  of  July  3,  at  8.55,  Sampson 
started  east  to  meet  General  Shafter  in  conference  at  Siboney, 
signaUing  to  the  fleet  as  he  left:  "Disregard  movements  com- 
mander-in-chief." The  Massachusetts  had  also  left  her  place 
in  the  blockade  to  go  to  Guantanamo  for  coal.  The  remaining 
ships  formed  a  semicircle  around  the  entrance  of  the  harbor,  the 
Brooklyn  to  the  west,  holding  the  left  of  the  line,  then  the  Texas, 
next  the  Iowa  in  the  centre  and  at  the  south  of  the  curve,  then,  as 
the  line  curved  in  to  the  coast  on  the  right,  the  Oregon  and  the 
Indiana.  The  Brooklyn  and  the  Indiana,  holding  the  left  and  the 
right  of  the  line,  were  about  two  miles  and  one  and  a  half  miles 
respectively  from  the  shore,  and  near  them,  closer  in,  lay  the  con- 
verted gun-boats  Vixen  and  Gloucester. 

At  9.35  A.M.,  while  most  of  the  men  were  at  Sunday  inspection, 
the  enemy's  ships  were  discovered  slowly  steaming  down  the 
narrow  channel  of  the  harbor.  In  the  lead  was  the  Maria  Teresa, 
followed  by  the  Vizcaya,  the  Colon,  the  Oquendo,  and  the  two 
torpedo-boat  destroyers.  The  Iowa  was  the  first  to  signal  that 
the  enemy  were  escaping,  though  the  fact  was  noted  on  several 
ships  at  almost  the  same  moment,  and  no  orders  were  necessary. 
The  American  ships  at  once  closed  in  and  directed  their  fire  against 
the  Teresa.  For  a  moment  there  was  doubt  as  to  whether  the 
Spanish  ships  would  separate  and  try  to  scatter  the  fire  of  our  fleet 
or  whether  they  would  stick  together.  This  was  quickly  settled 
when  Cervera  turned  west,  followed  by  the  remainder  of  his  com- 
mand. At  this  point  Commodore  Schley's  flag-ship,  the  Brooklyn, 
which  was  farthest  west,  turned  to  the  eastward,  away  from  the 
hostile  fleet,  making  a  loop,  at  the  end  of  which  she  again  steamed 
westward  farther  out  to  sea  but  still  ahead  of  any  of  the  American 
vessels.  The  sudden  and  unexpected  turn  of  the  Brooklyn 
caused  the  Texas,  which  was  behind  her,  to  reverse  her  engines 
in  order  to  avoid  a  collision  and  to  come  to  a  stand-still,  thus 


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t  c 

^'^. 


THE   BATTLES   OF   SANTIAGO   DE   CUBA,         493 

losing  position,  the  Oregon  and  the  Iowa  both  passing  her.  The 
two  destroyers,  which  came  out  last,  were  attacked  by  the 
Indiana  and  the  Gloucester,  the  commander  of  the  latter,  Wain- 
wright,  dashing  towards  them  in  utter  disregard  of  the  fragile 
character  of  his  vessel.  The  Furor  was  sunk  and  the  Plidon  was 
run  ashore.  The  Teresa,  struck  by  several  shells  which  exploded 
and  set  her  on  fire,  turned  to  the  shore  at  10.15  and  was  beached 
about  six  miles  west  of  the  Morro.  The  Oquendo  was  riddled  by 
shell  and  likewise  soon  on  fire.  She  was  beached  about  half  a 
mile  west  of  the  Teresa  at  10.20.  The  Vizcaya  and  Colon  were 
now  left  to  bear  the  fire  of  the  pursuing  American  ships,  which  were 
practically  uninjured.  In  this  running  fight  the  Indiana  dropped 
behind,  owing  to  the  defective  condition  of  her  machinery,  but 
kept  up  her  fire.  At  11.05  the  Vizcaya  turned  to  run  ashore  about 
fifteen  miles  west  of  the  Morro.  The  Brooklyn  and  the  Oregon , 
followed  at  some  distance  by  the  Texas,  continued  the  chase  of 
the  Colon.  The  Indiana  and  the  Iowa,  at  the  order  of  Sampson, 
who  had  come  up,  went  back  to  guard  the  transports.  At  1.15 
P.M.  the  Colon  turned  to  shore  thirty  miles  west  of  the  Vizcaya  and 
surrendered.* 

The  fight  was  over,  one  of  the  most  remarkable  naval  battles 
on  record.  On  the  American  side,  though  the  ships  were  struck 
many  times,  only  one  man  was  killed  and  one  wounded.  These 
casualties  both  occurred  on  Commodore  Schley's  flag-ship,  the 
Brooklyn.  The  Spaniards  lost  about  six  hundred  in  killed  and 
wounded.  The  American  sailors  took  an  active  part  in  the 
rescue  of  the  officers  and  crews  of  the  burning  Spanish  ships. 

IV. 

THE    SPANISH    SURRENDER. 

On  July  3,  General  Shafter  demanded  the  surrender  of  the 
Spanish  forces  in  Santiago.  This  being  refused,  he  notified 
General  Toral  that  the  bombardment  of  Santiago  would  begin  at 
noon  of  the  5th,  thus  giving  two  days  for  the  women  and  children 
to  leave  the  city.  Nearly  twenty  thousand  people  came  out  and 
filled  the  villages  and  roads  around.  They  were  in  an  utterly 
destitute  condition,  and  had  to  be  taken  care  of  largely  by  the 
American  army — a  great  drain  on  their  supplies.  On  the  10th 
and  11th  the  city  was  bombarded  by  the  squadron.  At  this  point 
General  Miles  arrived  off  Santiago  with  additional  troops  intended 
for  Porto  Rico.  He  and  Shafter  met  General  Toral  under  a  flag 
of  truce  and  arranged  terms  for  the  surrender,  which  took  place 

*Sec.  of  the  Navy,  Annual  Report,  1898,  App.,  pp.  505-602;  Long,  New 
Am.  Navy,  II.,  28-42. 


494         THE   BATTLES   OF   SANTIAGO   DE   CUBA. 

on  the  17th.  Shafter's  command  was  by  this  time  in  a  serious 
state  of  health  and  anxious  to  return  home.  Malarial  fevers  had 
so  weakened  the  men  that  an  epidemic  of  yellow-fever,  which 
had  appeared  sporadically  throughout  the  command,  was  greatly 
feared.  The  situation  was  desperate,  and  the  war  department 
apparently  deaf  to  all  representations  of  the  case.  Under  these 
circumstances  the  division  and  brigade  commanders  and  the 
surgeons  met  at  General  Shafter's  headquarters  early  in  August 
and  signed  a  round-robin  addressed  to  the  secretary  of  war  urging 
the  immediate  removal  of  the  corps  to  the  United  States.  This 
action  was  much  criticised  at  the  time,  but  it  had  the  desired 
effect,  and  on  August  4  orders  were  given  to  remove  the  com- 
mand to  Mont  auk  Point,  Long  Island.  The  movement  was 
begun  at  once  and  completed  before  the  end  of  the  month. 

The  surrender  of  Santiago  left  General  Miles  free  to  carry  out 
plans  already  matured  for  the  invasion  of  Porto  Rico.  He  left 
Guantanamo,  July  21,  with  3415  men,  mostly  volunteers,  con- 
voyed by  a  fleet  under  the  command  ^f  Captain  Higginson,  and 
landed  at  Guanica  on  the  25th.  Early  next  morning  General 
Garretson  pushed  forward  with  part  of  his  brigade  and  drove  the 
Spanish  forces  from  Yauco,  thus  getting  possession  of  the  railroad 
to  Ponce.  General  Miles  was  reinforced  in  a  few  days  by  the 
commands  of  Generals  Wilson,  Brooke,  and  Schwan,  raising  his 
entire  force  to  16,973  officers  and  men.  In  about  two  weeks  they 
had  gained  control  of  all  the  southern  and  western  portions  of  the 
island,  but  hostilities  were  suspended  by  the  peace  protocol  be- 
fore the  conquest  of  Porto  Rico  was  completed.  The  American 
losses  in  this  campaign  were  three  killed  and  forty  wounded.* 

The  last  engagement  of  the  war  was  the  assault  on  Manila, 
which  was  captured  August  13,  1898,  by  the  forces  under  General 
Merritt,  assisted  by  Admiral  Dewey's  squadron.  This  occurred 
the  day  after  the  signing  of  the  peace  protocol,  the  news  of  which 
did  not  reach  the  Philippines  until  several  days  later. 

V, 

CONTROVERSIES    CAUSED    BY   THE    WAR. 

Two  controversies  growing  out  of  the  war  with  Spain  assumed 
such  importance  that  they  cannot  be  passed  by.  The  first  related 
to  the  conduct  of  the  war  department,  which  was  charged  with 
inefficiency  resulting  from  poHtical  appointments  and  corruption 
in  the  purchase  of  supplies.  The  most  serious  charge  was  that 
made  by  Major-General  Miles,  commanding  the  army,  who  de- 

*  Major-General  commanding  the  Army,  Report,  1898,  pp.  138-147,  226-243, 
246-266. 


THE   BATTLES   OF   SANTIAGO   DE   CUBA.         495 

clared  that  much  of  the  refrigerated  beef  furnished  the  troops 
was  "embalmed  beef,"  preserved  with  secret  chemicals  of  an 
injurious  character.  In  September,  1898,  President  McKinley 
appointed  a  commission  to  investigate  these  charges,  and  the 
hearings  held  w^ere  sensational  in  the  extreme.  Commissary- 
General  Eagan  read  a  statement  before  the  commission  which  was 
so  violent  in  its  abuse  of  the  commanding  general  that  he  was 
later  court-martialled  and  sentenced  to  dismissal  for  conduct  un- 
becoming an  officer  and  a  gentleman,  though  this  sentence  was 
commuted  by  the  President  to  suspension  from  rank  and  duty, 
but  without  loss  of  pay.  The  report  of  the  commission*  failed 
to  substantiate  General  Miles's  charges,  but  it  was  not  satisfactory 
or  convincing.  In  spite  of  its  efforts  to  whitewash  things,  the 
commission  had  to  report  that  the  secretary  of  war  had  failed 
to  "grasp  the  situation."  Many  leading  newspapers  demanded 
Alger's  resignation,  but  President  McKinley  feared  to  discredit 
the  administration  by  dismissing  him.  Nevertheless,  a  coolness 
sprang  up  between  them;  and  several  months  later,  when  Alger 
became  a  candidate  for  the  Michigan  senatorship,  with  the  open 
support  of  elements  distinctly  hostile  to  the  administration,  the 
President  asked  for  his  resignation,  which  was  tendered  July 
19,  1899.t 

The  other  controversy,  which  waged  in  the  papers  for  months, 
was  as  to  whether  Sampson  or  Schley  was  in  command  at  the 
battle  of  Santiago.  As  a  reward  for  their  work  on  that  day,  the 
President  advanced  Sampson  eight  numbers,  Schley  six,  Captain 
Clark  of  the  Oregon  six,  and  the  other  captains  five.  These 
promotions  were  all  confirmed  by  the  Senate  save  those  of  Samp- 
son and  Schley,  a  number  of  senators  holding  that  Schley  should 
have  received  at  least  equal  recognition  with  Sampson.  The  con- 
troversy was  waged  inside  and  outside  of  Congress  for  three 
years.  The  officials  of  the  navy  department  were  for  the  most 
part  stanch  supporters  of  Sampson,  while  a  large  part  of  the 
public,  under  the  impression  that  the  department  was  trying  to 
discredit  Schley,  eagerly  championed  his  cause.  Finally,  at  the 
request  of  Admiral  Schley,  who  was  charged  in  certain  publica- 
tions with  inefficiency  and  even  cowardice,  a  court  of  inquiry  was 
appointed  July  26,  1901,  with  Admiral  Dewey  as  president,  for  the 
purpose  of  inquiring  into  the  conduct  of  Schley  during  the  war 
with  Spain.  The  opinion  of  the  court  was  that  his  service  prior 
to  June  1  was  "characterized  by  vacillation,  dilatoriness,  and  lack 
of  enterprise."  Admiral  Dewey  differed  from  the  opinions  of  his 
colleagues  on  certain  points,  and  delivered  a  separate  opinion, 

*  Senate  Docs.,  56  Cong.,  1  Sess.,  No.  221,  8  vols. 
■\  Nation,  LXIX.,  61. 


496         THE   BATTLES   OF   SANTIAGO   DE   CUBA. 

in  the  course  of  which  he  took  up  the  question  as  to  who  was  in 
command  at  Santiago,  a  point  which  had  not  been  considered 
by  the  court.  His  conclusion  was  that  Schley  "was  in  absolute 
command  and  is  entitled  to  the  credit  due  to  such  commanding 
officer  for  the  glorious  victory  which  resulted  in  the  total  destruc- 
tion of  the  Spanish  ships."  This  made  matters  worse  than  ever. 
Secretary  Long  approved  the  findings  of  the  majority  of  the  court 
and  disapproved  Dewey's  separate  opinion.  Schley  appealed 
from  the  findings  of  the  court  to  the  President.  February  18, 
1902,  President  Roosevelt's  memorandum,  in  which  he  reviewed 
the  whole  controversy,  was  made  public.  He  declared  that  the 
court  had  done  substantial  justice  to  Schley.  As  regards  the 
question  of  command  at  Santiago,  he  said  that  technically  Samp- 
son commanded  the  fleet,  and  Schley  the  western  division,  but 
that  after  the  battle  began  not  a  ship  took  orders  from  either 
Sampson  or  Schley,  except  their  own  two  vessels.  "It  was  a 
captains'  fight."  * 

The  Spanish  war  revealed  many  serious  defects  in  the  American 
military  system,  some  of  which  have  been  remedied  by  the  re- 
organization of  the  army  and  the  creation  of  a  general  staff,  f  It 
demonstrated  the  necessity  of  military  evolutions  on  a  large  scale 
in  time  of  peace,  so  as  to  give  the  general  officers  experience  in 
handling  and  the  quartermaster  and  commissary  departments  ex- 
perience in  equipping  and  supplying  large  bodies  of  troops;  it 
showed  the  folly  and  danger  of  appointing  men  from  civil  life 
through  political  influence  to  positions  of  responsibility  in  any 
branch  of  the  military  or  naval  service;  it  showed  the  value  of 
field-artillery,  of  smokeless  powder,  and  of  high-power  rifles  of  the 
latest  model;  it  also  showed  the  necessity  of  having  on  hand  a 
large  supply  of  the  best  war  material  ready  for  use.  While  every 
American  is  proud  of  the  magnificent  record  of  the  navy,  it  must 
not  be  imagined  that  the  war  with  Spain  was  a  conclusive  test 
of  its  invincibility,  for,  however  formidable  the  Spanish  cruisers 
appeared  at  the  time,  later  information  revealed  the  fact  that 
through  the  neglect  of  the  Spanish  government  they  were  very 
far  from  being  in  a  state  of  first-class  efficiency. 

*  Proceedings  of  the  Schley  Court  of  Inquiry,  House  Docs.,  57  Cong.,  i  Sess., 
No.  485. 
t  Act  of  February  14, 1903,  U.  S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XXXII.,  pt.  i.,  p.  830. 


THE   BATTLES   OF   SANTIAGO   DE   CUBA.         497 


SYNOPSIS    OF   PRINCIPAL   EVENTS,  CHIEFLY    MILITARY,  BE- 
TWEEN THE   BATTLES  OF  MANILA  AND  SANTIAGO, 
1898,  AND    THE    BATTLE    OF    TSU-SHIMA, 
OR  SEA  OF  JAPAN,  1905. 

A.D.  1899.  War  between  Great  Britain  and  the  Transvaal  Re- 
public begins.  Boer  siege  of  Ladysmith.  British  victory  at 
Modder  River.  General  Buller  defeated  at  the  Tugela.  Field- 
Marshal  Roberts  and  Lord  Kitchener  ordered  to  South  Africa. 
First  trial  of  Captain  Dreyfus,  accused  of  selling  French  mihtary 
secrets  to  Germany,  a  verdict  of  guilty  being  returned. 

1900.  Surrender  of  Cronje  to  Lord  Roberts  and  relief  of  Lady- 
smith.  Pretoria  surrendered  to  the  British.  The  Transvaal  pro- 
claimed to  be  British  territory.  Outbreak  of  the  Boxer  troubles 
in  China.  Attack  upon  the  foreign  legations  in  Peking.  Relief 
of  the  legations  by  the  allied  expeditionary  forces. 

1901.  Aguinaldo,  chief  of  the  Filipino  insurrectionists,  captured 
by  General  Funston.  The  invasion  of  Venezuela  by  Colombians 
repulsed. 

1902.  Convention  signed  at  Peking  between  China  and  Russia, 
the  latter  agreeing  to  evacuate  Manchuria.  Meeting  of  the  first 
Congress  of  the  Cuban  republic.  Treaty  of  peace  between  Great 
Britain  and  the  Boers  signed.  Civil  government  established  in 
the  Philippines.  End  of  the  Venezuelan  revolution;  also  of  civil 
war  in  Colombia.  Great  Britain  and  Germany  present  an  ulti- 
matum to  Venezuela,  and  seize  the  Venezuelan  fleet  and  custom- 
house. 

1903.  Close  of  the  Venezuelan  controversy.  The  reciprocity 
treaty  between  the  United  States  and  Cuba  ratified.  Massacre  of 
Jews  at  Kishineff,  Russia.  The  Russians  reoccupy  the  Province 
of  New  Chang,  Manchuria.  The  King  and  Queen  of  Servia 
assassinated  at  Belgrade,  and  Peter  Karageorgevitch  proclaimed 
king.     The  Republic  of  Panama  proclaimed. 

1904.  British  expedition  to  Thibet,  under  Colonel  Young- 
husband,  reaches  Lhasa.  War  between  Russia  and  Japan  begins. 
The  Japanese  capture  Kinshow  and  Naushan  Hill.  The  Russian 
Pacific  fleet  attempts  a  sortie  from  Port  Arthur  and  is  driven 
back  by  Admiral  Togo.  The  Japanese  win  the  battle  of  Liao- 
yang.  The  Russian  Baltic  fleet  sails  from  Cronstadt.  The  Rus- 
sians fire  upon  some  English  fishing -boats  in  the  North  Sea, 
killing  two  men  and  injuring  many  others.  The  Japanese  capture 
203-Metre  Hill  at  Port  Arthur. 

1905.  Capitulation  of  Port  Arthur.     Battle  of  Mukden. 


498  THE  BATTLE  OF  TSUSHIMA. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE   BATTLE   OF   TSU-SHIMA,   1905. 

It  may  be  said  that  the  seeds  of  conflict  between  Russia  and 
Japan  were  sown  in  the  seventeenth  century.  It  was  then  that 
Peter  the  Great  conceived  an  ambition  for  seaports  and  power 
upon  the  Pacific,  and  in  the  glacier-like  progress  of  Russian  policy 
this  ambition  was  realized.  Siberia  was  conquered.  The  nine- 
teenth century  saw  Russia  making  her  way  steadily  across  Asia, 
conquering  and  assimilating  native  tribes,  and  disturbing  England 
by  her  nearness  to  the  back  door  of  India.  In  1861  Vladivostok 
was  founded  on  the  Gulf  of  Peter  the  Great  in  the  Sea  of  Japan, 
and  Russia  had  obtained  a  Pacific  seaport.  The  prizes  of  the 
war  between  China  and  Japan,  1894-95,  were  wrested  from  Japan 
through  the  influence  of  the  great  powers.  Among  the  results 
of  the  protests,  negotiations,  and  intrigue  which  followed  the  war 
were  the  withdrawal  of  Japan  from  the  Liao-tung  peninsula;  a 
treaty  providing  for  the  independence  of  Corea;  the  relinquish- 
ment of  Port  Arthur  by  the  Japanese,  and  in  1898  its  occupa- 
tion by  the  Russians,  under  a  secret  treaty  with  China.  Thus 
Russia  obtained  a  Pacific  seaport  free  from  ice,  and  from  China 
again  she  obtained  permission  to  build  to  Port  Arthur  a  branch 
line  from  Harbin  on  the  main  line  of  the  great  trans-Siberian  rail- 
road, opened  in  1897.  Soldiers  and  colonists  were  transported  to 
Manchuria,  and  supplies  and  fortifications  were  multiplied  at 
Port  Arthur.  Russia's  promises  to  evacuate  Manchuria  proved 
fruitless.  Japan  saw  in  the  immediate  future  a  Russian  occupa- 
tion of  Corea  as  well  as  Manchuria,  with  Russia  facing  her  on  the 
Pacific  impregnably  established,  and  barring  Japan  from  hope 
of  the  expansion  on  the  mainland,  which  was  essential  for  her 
development.  Japan's  protests  were  unavailing.  But  for  years 
she  had  been  preparing  to  measure  her  strength  against  the  giant 
empire  of  Russia.  The  outcome  of  the  war  with  China  had  left 
her  in  no  doubt  as  to  the  issue  presented.  Japan  had  prepared  her- 
self for  war.  Russia  had  not.  But  Russia's  policy  of  evasion  and 
procrastination  was  abruptly  ended  when,  on  February  6,  1904, 
Japan  recalled  her  minister  from  St.  Petersburg,  and  Russia  on 
the  same  day  recalled  her  minister  from  Tokio. 

Without  awaiting  a  formal  declaration  of  hostihties,  Admiral 


THE  BATTLE  OF  TSUSHIMA.  499 

Togo,  on  February  8,  attacked  the  Russian  fleet  at  Port  Arthur. 
The  injuries  inflicted  in  this  and  a  subsequent  attack,  and  in  the 
sinking  of  two  Russian  cruisers  near  Chemulpo  on  February 
8,  gave  Japan  at  once  the  naval  supremacy  in  the  Pacific.  She 
could  move  her  army  to  the  mainland  in  safety,  and  on  Febru- 
ary 18  the  Japanese  First  Army,  under  Kuroki,  entered  Corea. 
On  May  16  the  Japanese  Second  Army,  under  Oku,  occupied 
the  Liao-tung  peninsula,  and  on  the  23d  the  Third  Army,  under 
Nodzu,  advanced  into  the  territory  between  that  occupied  by 
its  predecessors.  On  May  1  Kuroki  had  defeated  Zassulitch  at 
the  Yalu,  and  there  followed  the  defeat  of  Stoessel  and  the  in- 
vestment of  Port  Arthur,  the  defeat  of  Stakelberg's  attempt  at 
relief,  and  the  months  of  the  bloody  siege  with  its  terrific  fighting 
which  terminated  in  the  surrender  of  Port  Arthur  on  January 
2,  1905.  Meantime,  Oyama,  in  supreme  command,  had  repulsed 
Kuropatkin  in  August  and  September  in  the  great  battle  of 
Liao-yang,  and  the  Russian  army  of  Manchuria  retreated  to 
Mukden.  But  the  capture  of  Port  Arthur  left  the  Japanese  a 
comparatively  free  hand.  In  early  March,  1905,  Kuropatkin 
was  driven  from  Mukden,  and  the  Japanese,  always  pressing  on, 
occupied  Tie-ling  on  March  16.  The  great  land  campaigns  of 
the  Japanese  had  been  carried  on  with  absolute  accuracy  and 
uniform  success.  On  the  sea  Japan  was  in  control,  but  Russia's 
ineffectiveness  had  moved  her  to  the  desperate  step  of  sending 
her  Baltic  fleet  to  the  rescue. 

For  months  Russia  had  paltered  with  a  situation  which  was 
growing  worse  with  every  day  that  passed.  It  was  the  general 
belief  that  the  Russian  reserve  fleet  would  never  leave  the  Baltic 
Sea,  or  that  if  it  did  it  would  never  arrive  at  its  destination.  But 
finally,  on  October  15,  1904,  Admiral  Rojestvensky  actually  sailed 
from  Cronstadt,  and  the  last  act  of  the  great  drama  had  begun. 

It  had  been  reported  that  the  Russian  ships  were  unseaworthy, 
badly  found,  commanded  by  incompetent  officers,  and  manned 
by  mutinous  and  inexperienced  crews.  The  first  important  in- 
cident of  the  long  cruise  seemed  to  give  color  to  these  dismal 
statements.  While  off  the  Dogger  bank  in  the  German  Ocean  the 
Russian  vessels,  under  the  impression  that  they  were  about  to  be 
attacked  by  a  flotilla  of  Japanese  torpedo-boats,  fired  upon  some 
defenceless  EngUsh  fishing  craft,  killing  several  men.  Without 
waiting  to  determine  the  results  of  his  action,  the  Russian  ad- 
miral continued  to  steam  southward,  apparently  in  panic  flight. 
International  complications  seemed  inevitable,  but  Great  Britain 
accepted  the  Russian  apology  and  a  money  indemnity,  and  the 
incident  was  closed. 

In  spite  of  this  ill-omened  beginning,  the  first  purpose  of 
the  movement  was  successfully  accomplished.    At  Tangier  the 


500  THE  BATTLE  OF  TSUSHIMA: 

armada  was  divided,  the  older  ships  and  cruisers  taking  the 
Suez  Canal  route,  while  Admiral  Rojestvensky,  with  the  battle- 
ship squadron,  made  the  long  journey  around  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope.  At  Madagascar  the  discouraging  news  of  Port  Arthur's 
fall  on  January  2,  1905,  was  received,  but  no  motion  was  made 
by  the  home  government  to  recall  the  fleet.  Arriving  off  the 
coast  of  Annam,  in  French  Indo-China,  on  April  13,  the  Russians 
spent  nearly  a  month  in  refitting,  until  the  earnest  protest  of  the 
Japanese  government  compelled  their  withdrawal  from  French 
ports. 

Early  in  May,  1905,  Admiral  Rojestvensky  effected  a  junction 
with  the  cruiser  division  under  Admiral  Folkersahm,  and  a  few 
days  later  he  was  still  further  reinforced  by  Admiral  Nebogatoff, 
commanding  the  third  squadron  of  the  Russian  reserve.  The  com- 
bined fleet  then  numbered  eight  battle-ships,  seventeen  cruisers 
and  coast  defence  vessels,  nine  torpedo-boat  destroyers,  sixteen 
transports,  two  repair-ships,  two  hospital  ships,  and  several  aux- 
iliaries— truly  a  formidable  armada.  In  spite  of  all  his  difficul- 
ties, the  Russian  commander  had  brought  this  great  fleet  over 
thousands  of  miles  of  stormy  water,  and  assembled  it,  without 
the  loss  of  a  vessel,  on  the  theatre  of  the, coming  conflict — no  mean 
feat  of  seamanship,  as  all  the  world  was  now  ready  to  allow. 

On  May  9,  1905,  the  fleet  left  Annam,  and  for  nearly  a  fort- 
night its  precise  whereabouts  remained  a  profound  secret — a  most 
astonishing  situation,  when  one  considers  that  the  Japanese  au- 
thorities were  making  every  effort  to  locate  the  invading  force. 
On  May  26  the  Russians  were  unofficially  reported  as  being  south 
of  Kinshin,  but  it  was  not  until  May  27,  or  the  actual  day  of  the 
battle,  that  Admiral  Togo  could  be  certain  of  his  enemy's  position 
or  intentions. 

The  Russian  plan  of  action  was  simple.  Port  Arthur  had 
fallen  months  before,  and  now  the  only  refuge  was  the  strongly 
fortified  Siberian  port  of  Vladivostok.  If  Rojestvensky  could 
reach  Vladivostok  he  would  obtain  a  base  of  suppUes,  and,  under 
the  guns  of  its  citadel,  he  could  refit,  and  then  choose  his  oppor- 
tunity for  the  final  measurement  of  strength.  And  this  is  pre- 
cisely what  the  Japanese  were  determined  to  prevent;  Rojest- 
vensky must  be  forced  to  give  battle  while  his  ships  were  still  in 
the  disorganized  condition  consequent  upon  their  long  and  trying 
voyage. 

To  reach  Vladivostok  the  direct  course  was  through  the 
straits  dividing  Corea  from  Japan,  and  the  puzzling  question  was 
the  particular  passage  th^t  Rojestvensky  would  attempt.  The 
Japanese  engineers  had  parcelled  out  the  whole  area  of  sea 
between  the  island  of  Quelport  and  Vladivostok  into  a  series 
of  gigantic  squares  resembling  those  of  a  chess-board.    At  five 


THE  BATTLE  OF  TSUSHIMA. 


501 


o'clock  on  the  morning  of  May  27  the  Japanese  cruiser  Shinano 
Maru  reported,  by  wireless,  to  Admiral  Togo  that  the  Russian 
fleet  had  been  sighted  in  Square  203.  This  would  indicate  that 
they  were  making  for  the  eastern  channel,  between  the  island  of 
Tsu-shima  and  the  Japanese  mainland.  If  the  Russians  could 
get  through  in  safety  they  would  be  in  the  open  waters  of  the  Sea 
of  Japan,  and  would  be  able  to  make  a  dash  for  Vladivostok. 

Admiral  Rojestvensky  had  learned  of  the  proximity  of  the 
Japanese  fleet,  through  the  interception  of  their  wireless  telegraphic 
messages,  as  early  as  the  evening  of  May  26.  The  weather  was 
misty,  and  a  heavy  sea  was  on.    The  Russian  ships  were  top-heavy, 


502  THE  BATTLE  OF  TSUSHIMA. 

owing  to  the  amount  of  coal  stowed  on  their  upper  works,  and 
they  rolled  badly,  affording  an  uncertain  platform  for  the  working 
of  the  big  guns. 

The  Russian  fleet  advanced  in  two  columns,  headed  by  the 
battle  -  ships.  Some  Japanese  cruisers  were  sighted  about  nine 
o'clock,  and  shortly  after  eleven  the  Russian  ship  Vladimir 
Monomach  fired  the  first  gun.  The  Japanese  sheered  off,  without 
replying,  and  at  half-past  eleven  the  firing  ceased. 

At  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  Admiral  Togo  hoisted  his  battle 
signal.  It  read:  "The  salvation  or  the  fall  of  the  empire  depend 
upon  the  results  of  this  engagement;  do  your  utmost,  every  one 
of  you." 

The  Russian  forces  engaged  in  the  battle  included  eight  battle- 
ships, twelve  cruisers,  thirteen  destroyers,  and  five  auxiliary  cruis- 
ers. On  the  Japanese  side  Admiral  Togo  commanded  four  bat- 
tle-ships, twenty -two  cruisers,  twenty  destroyers,  sixty -seven 
torpedo-boats  and  thirteen  submarines,  besides  an  indefinite 
number  of  auxiliary  cruisers.  It  thus  appears  that  the  Japanese 
had  by  far  the  greater  number  of  vessels,  but  in  broad-side  gun- 
fire the  Russians  held  a  decided  advantage.  In  the  secondary 
armament  the  Japanese  were  superior,  and  kll  the  torpedo-boats 
were  also  on  their  side.  The  bottoms  of  the  Russian  vessels  were 
foul,  and  their  average  fleet  speed  was  twelve  knots  as  compared 
to  fifteen  knots  for  the  Japanese.  In  discipline,  gunnery,  and 
morale  the  Japanese  had  all  the  advantage. 

Togo's  principal  object  was  to  prevent  the  escape  of  the 
Russians  to  the  north,  or  in  the  direction  of  Vladivostok.  Ac- 
cordingly, as  the  Japanese  ships  approached,  they  suddenly  swung 
around  so  as  to  cross  the  Russian  column  on  the  diagonal,  instead 
of  steaming  past  on  a  parallel  course.  The  effect  of  this  manoeu- 
vre was  to  bring  a  crushing  and  concentrated  fire  on  the  leading 
Russian  ships,  while  those  in  the  rear  had  their  guns  masked  by 
their  own  vessels. 

At  a  little  past  two  o'clock,  May  27,  the  general  engagement 
began  at  a  distance  of  eight  thousand  yards.  The  aim  of  the 
Japanese  gunners  was  much  the  better,  the  score  being  in  the 
proportion  of  three  and  then  four  hits  to  one.  The  Osliabya  was 
soon  in  flames,  and  the  Suvaroff,  Admiral  Rojestvensky's  flag- 
ship, was  literally  pounded  to  pieces.  The  Russians  were  forced 
off  to  the  southward,  and  the  line  became  disorganized. 

A  little  after  three  o'clock  the  Osliabya  foundered.  At  four 
o'clock  the  Russian  admiral,  wounded  and  unconscious,  was  trans- 
ferred from  the  burning- and  dismantled  Suvaroff  to  a  torpedo- 
boat  destroyer,  which  later  in  the  day  was  compelled  to  surrender 
to  a  Japanese  cruiser. 

At  long  range,  the  terrible  and  unequal  duel  continued.    The 


THE  BATTLE  OF  TSUSHIMA.  503 

weather  had  been  clear,  but  now  the  scene  was  enshrouded  with 
fog  and  4rif ting  smoke.  Yet  there  was  no  escape  for  the  un- 
fortunate Russians;  so  often  as  they  tried  to  make  for  the  east  or 
north  the  Japanese  drove  them  back,  and  their  only  hope  lay  in 
the  approaching  darkness. 

One  catastrophe  followed  another.  The  Alexander  III.  fell 
out  of  position,  and  shortly  afterwards  capsized  and  sunk.  The 
Borodino's  magazine  exploded  and  carried  her  to  the  bottom. 
Moreover,  the  secondary  engagement  between  the  cruisers  had 
gone  overwhelmingly  against  the  Russians.  In  two  hours  the 
division  was  in  complete  disorder.  Admiral  Enquist,  with  three 
Russian  cruisers,  escaped  to  Manila,  where  the  vessels  were 
promptly  interned  until  the  end  of  the  war. 

At  sunset  Admiral  Togo  withdrew  his  line  of  battle-ships,  and 
the  torpedo  fleet  were  ordered  into  action.  Like  wolves  they 
leaped  upon  their  wearied  and  disorganized  prey.  All  through 
the  night  they  harried  the  flying  and  scattered  Russian  ships,  and 
their  torpedoes  did  deadly  work;  the  far  horizon-line  was  lit  up  by 
the  flames  of  burning  ships  and  the  air  was  heavy  with  the  reek 
of  smoke  and  the  stench  of  carnage. 

On  the  morning  of  May  28  the  Russian  fleet  had  been  reduced 
to  five  ships,  under  command  of  Admiral  Nebogatoff .  Quickly 
Admiral  Togo  was  after  him.  The  range  of  the  Russian  guns  was 
less  than  that  of  the  Japanese,  and  the  latter  could  strike  their 
exhausted  and  discouraged  enemy  from  a  distance  and  at  leisure. 
Human  nature  could  bear  no  more,  and  at  half-past  ten  o'clock 
on  the  morning  of  May  28  Nebogatoff  hauled  down  his  flag  and 
surrendered.    The  battle  of  Tsu-shima  was  ended. 

The  material  results  of  the  engagement  gave  the  Japanese  a 
victory  almost  unparalleled  in  naval  annals.  The  Russians  lost 
twenty-two  vessels  sunk  and  five  captured,  while  only  two  ships 
actually  escaped  and  finally  reached  Vladivostok.  The  Japanese 
lost  one  hundred  and  sixteen  men  killed  and  five  hundred  and 
thirty-eight  wounded.  Six  thousand  Russians  were  taken  prison- 
er, while  upward  of  fourteen  thousand  men  were  killed,  wounded, 
or  met  death  through  drowning.  Several  hundred  Russians  were 
rescued  from  their  sinking  vessels  by  the  Japanese,  whose  hu- 
manity, indeed,  was  as  conspicuous  as  their  bravery. 

As  an  epoch-making  event  the  battle  of  the  Sea  of  Japan  must 
rank  with  Salamis,  the  defeat  of  the  Spanish  Armada,  and 
Trafalgar.  Once  again,  within  the  course  of  a  few  short  hours, 
had  the  map  of  the  world  been  changed ;  the  aggressions  of  Rus- 
sia in  the  Orient  had  been  checked;  and  Japan,  now  a  world 
power,  had  taken  her  rightful  place  in  the  council  of  the  nations. 

There  followed,  on  June  8,  President  Roosevelt's  suggestion  of 
negotiations  for  peace.  There  was  little  more  warfare  of  con- 
33 


504  THE  BATTLE  OF  TSUSHIMA. 

sequence,  although  SaghaHen  was  captured  by  the  Japanese  on 
July  31.  On  August  9  the  Japanese  and  Russian  envois  met  at 
Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire,  and  a  treaty  of  peace  was  signed 
on  September  5 — the  official  conclusion  of  a  bloody  conflict  which 
had  placed  Japan  in  a  new  light  before  the  world. 


INDEX. 


Abraham,  Plains  of,  415,  419. 

Acadia  ceded  to  England,  410. 

Ackland,  Lady  Harriet,  conduct  at 
Saratoga,  320-322. 

Ackland,  Major,  at  Saratoga,  316; 
wounded,  320-322. 

Adolphus,  Gustavus,  King  of  Sweden, 
257. 

iEmilianus,  Scipio,  destroys  Carthage 
and  Numantium,  113. 

^milius,  Paulus,  defeats  Perses  at 
Pydna,  113. 

Aetius,  Roman  general,  144;  army, 
154;  effects  junction  with  Theo- 
doric,  155;  commands  right  wing 
at  Chalons,  155;  jealousy,  156. 

Agathocles,  wars  with  Carthaginians, 
80-81. 

Aguinaldo,  Emilio,  capture,  497. 

Aix-la-Chapelle,  peace  of,  296. 

Alcibiades,  Athenian  general,  45; 
harangue  in  Spartan  assembly, 
45-47. 

Alexander  the  Great,  bom,  55;  King 
of  Macedon,  56;  character,  58; 
Arrian  on,  59;  Raleigh  on,  59;  Na- 
poleon on,  60;  conquests,  61-63; 
army  at  Arbela,  67-68;  in  sight  of 
Persian  army,  70;  disposition  of 
troops,  71-73;  valor,  74;  form  of 
attack,  75;  manoeuvres,  77;  victory, 
78;  enters  Arbela,  79;  crisis  of 
career,  79;  later  exploits,  79-80; 
death,  80. 

Alger,  R.  A.,  as  Secretary  of  War, 
486;  resignation,  495. 

Alghafeki,  Abderrahman  Ibn  Abdillah, 
governor  of  Spain,  163;  character, 
164;  defeats  Count  Eudo,  165;  en-. 


counter  with  Martel,  165-167;  de- 
feat and  death,  166. 

America,  independence,  298;  ad- 
vancement, 299;  De  Tocqueville  on, 
300-301;  Macgregor  on,  301-303; 
intercourse  with  China,  304;  Eng- 
land's policy  toward,  305;  inde- 
pendence recognized  by  England, 
326;  King  WHIiam's  War,  409; 
French  and  Indian  war,  410;  the 
results  of  Yorktown,  427-428. 

Americans,  victory  at  Saratoga,  305- 
326;  friction  with  France  over  trib- 
utaries of  the  Alleghany,  410;  vic- 
tory at  Bennington,  421  ;  storm 
Stony  Point,  421  ;  defeated  by 
Miami  Indians,  428;  capture  York, 
429. 

Amherst,  Jeffrey,  commander-in-chief 
in  America,  412;  operations,  417. 

Andr^,  John,  capture,  421. 

Anjou,  Philip  of,  dominions,  258;  Spain 
bequeathed  to,  258,  265;  extent  of 
Empire,  265. 

Anne,  Queen,  supports  Alliance,  258, 
267;  death,  295. 

Antalcidas,  peace  of,  55. 

Antietam,  battle,  432. 

Antigonus  killed,  81. 

Antiochus,  King  of  Syria,  112. 

Antoninus,  Marcus,  repels  Romans,  141. 

Arabs,  loss  at  Toulouse,  166;  chron- 
iclers, 166,  167. 

Arbela,  situation,  64;  Darius  at,  65; 
Alexander's  army,  67,  74;  Darius 's 
plan  of  battle,  69;  plan  of  battle, 
73;  description  of  battle,  75-77; 
Persians  defeated,  78;  Alexander 
enters,  79. 


506 


INDEX, 


Aristides  at  Marathon,  8,  21,  23,  24. 

Ariston,  Admiral,  at  Syracuse,  51. 

Arietta,  mother  of  William  the  Con- 
queror, 171. 

Arminius,  victory  over  Romans,  119; 
national  hero,  119,  131;  marriage, 
122;  insurrection  against  Romans, 
122,  124;  attacks  Varius,  126,  127; 
victory,  129;  independence  of  Ger- 
many gained  by  victory,  131;  fate 
of  wife  and  child,  132;  contest  with 
Germanicus,  133,  135,  136;  inter- 
view with  brother,  133,  134;  en- 
gages Marobodnus,  136 ;  assassi- 
nated, 136;  honors  paid  to  mem- 
ory, 137;  ode  to,  by  Klopstock, 
139,  140. 

Arnold,  Benedict,  at  Saratoga,  310; 
encounter  with  Burgoyne,  313; 
deprived  of  command,  317;  wound- 
ed, 318;  treason,  421. 

Arrian,  quoted,  58,  59,  65,  66,  71,  72; 
integrity,  66. 

Artaphemes  commands  Persian  army, 
16,  17. 

Artillery  first  used,  210. 

Asdrubal.    See  Hasdruhal. 

Ashburton  Treaty,  430. 

Athenians,  at  Marathon,  2-4;  assist 
lonians,  14,  15;  defy  Darius,  l6; 
aid  Eretria,  17;  battle  with  Per- 
sians, 23-26;  losses,  27;  aid  Egyp- 
tians, 34;  besiege  Syracuse,  38; 
navy,  39,  43;  ends  reinforcements 
to  Syracuse,  50;  resources,  51;  de- 
feat, 54. 

Athens,  visited  by  pestilence,  35; 
truce  with  LacedaBmon,  35;  power, 
38-41;  tyranny,  40;  naval  forces, 
41;  ambition,  42;  perseverance,  50; 
power  broken,  54;  democracy  re- 
stored, 55. 

Attica,  extent,  10. 

Attila,  King  of  Huns,  143;  fame,  148; 
character,  149;  titles  assumed,  150, 
155;  conquests  and  kingdom,  151 
and  note;  founds  Buda,  151,  152; 
murders  brother,  151,  152;  invita- 
tion from  Honoria,  153;  army,  154; 
siege  of  Orleans,  155;  description 
of  battle,  156;  defeat,  157. 


Austria,  Don  John  of,  defeats  Turks 

at  Lepanto,  227. 
Austria,  misgovemment,  162. 

Bandricourt  De,  interview  with  Joan 
of  Arc,  214. 

Banks,  N.  P.,  task  in  Louisiana,  440; 
Port  Hudson,  440. 

Battle  Abbey,  site,  184;  King  Har- 
old's defeat,  185;  interest  attached 
to  spot,  186. 

Baum,  Colonel,  defeat  at  Benning- 
ton, 312. 

Becket,  Thomas  h,  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  205. 

Bedford,  Duke  of,  victory  at  Ver- 
neuil,  207. 

Bedford,  Regent,  refused  to  accept 
surrender  of  Orleans,  212;  on  Joan 
of  Arc,  223,  224. 

Bingham,  Sir  Richard,  advises  Queen 
Elizabeth,  240. 

Blanco,  Ramon,  and  Cervera's  fleet, 
491. 

Blenheim,  Battle  of,  259-281;  battle- 
ground, 276;  plan  of  battle,  277; 
disposition  of  forces,  277;  allies, 
278;  "battle,  278;  Marlborough  res- 
cues centre  of  army,  279;  valor  of 
Prince  Eugene,  279;  crisis  of  bat- 
tle, 280;  victory  for  Marlborough, 
281;  losses,  281;  results  of  victory, 
281. 

Bliicher,  Marshal,  commands  army  of 
Lower  Rhine,  347;  troops  under, 
348;  position  of  army,  349;  at 
Ligny,  353,  360;  interview  with 
Wellington,  357;  injured,  362;  en- 
ergy, 367;  prevented  from  sacking 
Paris,  407.    See  also  Waterloo. 

Blue,  Victor,  in  Spanish  War,  487. 

Bolingbrooke  quoted,  262,  263,  269, 
284. 

Boston,  massacre,  420;  tea-party,  421. 

Braddock,  General,  defeat  at  Fort 
Duquesne,  410. 

Breyman,  Lieutenant-Colonel,  defeat- 
ed by  Americans,  312. 

Brown,  John,  hanged,  432. 

Brunswick,  Duke  of,  generalissimo  of 
allied  army,  333;  captures  Longwy 


INDEX. 


507 


and  Verdun,  333;  defeat,  341.  See 
also  Valmy. 

Bull  Run,  battle,  432. 

Burgoyne,  John,  commands  English 
army  in  America,  305,  308;  plan  of 
expedition,  307,  308  n.;  army,  308; 
captures  Fort  Ticonderoga,  309; 
confident  of  success,  310;  at  Fort 
Edward,  311;  encamps  at  Saratoga, 
312;  attacks  Americans,  313,  315; 
hears  from  Clinton,  313;  desertions, 
314;  defeat  and  retreat,  318,  319; 
capitulates,  324. 

CiESAR,  Augustus,  conquers  Gaul, 
115;  foreign  policy,  120;  grief  at 
death  of  Varus,  130. 

Callimachus,  Athenian  war -ruler,  1; 
vote  at  Marathon,  9;  death,  25. 

Campbell,  Major,  at  Yorktown,  424. 

Canute,  King  of  England,  170. 

Carmagnoles,  revolutionary  volun- 
teers, 330. 

Carthage,  sues  for  peace,  82;  power 
shattered,  86;  inferior  to  Rome, 
87,  89;  rise,  87;  commerce  and  nav- 
igation, 88;  agricultural  industry, 
89;  races,  90;  army,  90,  91,  105, 
106;  a  Roman  province,  113. 

Carthaginians  besiege  Syracuse,  55, 56. 

Cartier,  Jacques,  voyages  to  St.  Law- 
rence, 409. 

Cervera,  Pasqual,  squadron,  483;  at 
Santiago,  484;  battle,  491-493. 

Chalons,  battle,  143-157;  Attila's 
camp,  143;  importance,  144;  meet- 
ing of  Romans  and  Huns,  154;  de- 
scription of  battle,  155  156;  retreat 
of  Attila,  156. 

Champlain,  Samuel,  settles  Quebec, 
409. 

Charlemagne,  reign,  169. 

Charles  II.  of  Spain,  death,  258,  265. 

Charles  V.,  Emperor  of  Germany, 
227;  abdication,  227. 

Charles  VIII.  of  France  invades  Italy, 
226. 

Charles  XIL,  King  of  Sweden,  258; 
defeats  Russians  at  Narva,  258; 
character,  289;  criticised  by  Na- 
poleon,  289,   290,   291;   hoped  to 


crush  Russia,  290;  invasion  of  Rus- 
sia, 291;  besieges  Pultowa,  292; 
defeat,  293;  death,  295. 

Cherusci,  German  tribe,  119;  English 
akin  to,  131. 

China,  war  with  Japan,  473. 

Churchill,  John.    See  Marlborough. 

Civilization,  Asiatic,  11;  European, 
12;  promoted  by  victories  of  Alex- 
ander the  Great,  161-163;  progress 
in  Europe,  163. 

Claudius,  Emperor  of  Rome,  141. 

Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty,  431. 

Clovis  establishes  French  monarchy  in 
Gaul,  157. 

Clinton,  Sir  Henry,  endeavors  to  co- 
operate with  Burgoyne,  312,  313; 
defeats  Americans,  315;  sends  sup- 
plies to  Burgoyne,  316. 

Columbus,  Christopher,  discovers  New 
World,  226. 

Conon,  Admiral,  defeats  Laceddsmo- 
nian  fleet,  55. 

Constantinople  taken  by  Mahomet  11. , 
226. 

Corinth,  stormed  by  Romans,  113. 

Comwallis,  Lord,  surrenders  to  Wash- 
ington, 326;  at  Yorktown,  425, 
426. 

Cortes,  Hernando,  conquest  of  Mex- 
ico, 227. 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  lord-protector  of 
England,  257. 

Crusade,  the,  204,  205. 

Cuba,  the  Virginius  affair,  474,  475; 
Ten  Years'  War,  475;  insurrection 
(1895),  475;  blowing  up  of  Maine, 
475;  blockade,  482;  Santiago  cam- 
paign, 484-494. 

Cuneiform  inscriptions,  13. 

Cyrus  the  Younger  killed  at  Cunaxa, 
55. 

Darius,  Codom annus,  at  Arbela,  64; 
precautions,  65;  army,  65;  skill, 
65,  107;  apprehends  night  attack, 
71;  disposition  of  army,  71;  plan 
of  attack,  75;  frustrated  by  Alex- 
ander, 76,  77;  flight,  77;  defeat,  78; 
death,  79. 

Darius,  Hystaspis,  power,  14;  armies. 


508 


INDEX. 


16;  demands  submission  of  Greeks, 
16;  defeated  at  Marathon,  21-27; 
death,  33. 

Dauphin,  the,  character,  209;  court, 
212;  interview  with  Joan  of  Arc, 
215;  crowned  King  Charles  VII. 
of  France,  223;  doubt  of  legiti- 
macy, 224. 

Datis,  commands  Persian  army,  16; 
attacks  Eretria,  17;  at  Marathon, 
18;  defeat,  25,  26. 

Davis,  Jefferson,  elected  president  of 
Confederate  States,  432. 

Decius,  Emperor  of  Rome,  slain,  141. 

Declaration  of  Independence,  421. 

Deerfield  massacre,  409. 

Demosthenes,  Athenian  general,  com- 
mands expedition  against  Syra- 
cuse, 50;  early  exploits,  51;  en- 
deavors to  recover  Epipolae,  52; 
repulsed,  53;  death,  54. 

Detmoldt,  victory  of  Arminius  over 
Varus  at,  125. 

Deuxponts,  Count,  at  Yorktown,  424. 

Dewey,  George,  preparations  for 
Spanish  War,  476;  fleet,  477;  battle 
in  Manila  Bay,  478-479;  and  Ger- 
man fleet,  480;  capture  of  Manila, 
494;  and  Sampson-Schley  contro- 
versy, 495,  496. 

Dionysius,  defends  Syracuse  against 
Carthaginians,  55. 

Drake,  Sir  Francis,  exploits,  228; 
coolness,  229;  cruise  off  Tagus, 
237;  sails  to  Corunna,  250;  on  de- 
feat of  Spanish  Armada,  256. 

Dreyfus,  Captain,  trial,  497. 

Drusus,  commander  of  Romans  in 
lUyricum,  136. 

Ducret,  General,  at  Sedan,  464,  465. 

Dumouriez,  commander-in-chief  of 
French  at  Valmy,  330,  333;  treat- 
ment of  Carmagnoles,  331;  arrival 
at  Sedan,  333;  manoeuvres,  334; 
skill,  335;  communicates  with  Kel- 
lermann,  335.    See  also  Valmy. 

Dundas,  Lieutenant-Colonel  at  York- 
town,  425. 

Dunois,  General,  at  siege  of  Orleans, 
216. 

Duquesne,  Fort,  capture,  410,  411. 


Eagan,  C.  p.,  court-martial,  495. 

Edward  I.,  conquers  Wales,  206. 

Edward  III.,  invades  France,  206. 

Edward  the  Confessor,  called  to 
throne,  170;  death,  177. 

Egbert,  King  of  Wessex,  170. 

Elizabeth,  Queen  of  England,  227; 
state  of  England  at  time  of  acces- 
sion, 230;  death  of  Mary  Queen  of 
Scots,  234;  denounced  as  a  heretic, 
235;  loyalty  to  subjects,  236;  pre- 
cautions, 237;  letters  to  people, 
238;  effects,  239;  address  to  army, 
240;  councillors,  241;  navy,  244, 
251;  death,  257. 

England,  conquered  by  Normans  {see 
Hastings);  fails  to  conquer  France 
(see  Joan  of  Arc);  resists  Spain, 
233;  policy,  234-236;  desires  to 
treat  for  peace  with  Spain,  237; 
commencement  of  Civil  War,  257; 
revolution,  258;  state  under  Stuart 
reign,  263;  join  Grand  Alliance 
against  France,  265;  war  with 
France,  295;  recognizes  indepen- 
dence of  United  States,  326;  war 
with  United  States,  342;  long  peri- 
od of  peace,  344 ;  declares  war 
against  Spain,  420. 

Epaminondas  killed,  55. 

Eretria,  confederate  of  Athens,  2;  as- 
sists Ionia,  15;  attacked  byDatis,  17. 

Eudo,  Count,  encounter  with  Ab- 
derrahman,  165. 

Eugene,  Prince,  meeting  with  Marl- 
borough, 274;  opposes  Marsin  at 
Blenheim,  278;  valor,  279;  losses, 
281. 

Evans,  R.  D.,  in  Spanish  War,  484. 

Ewell,  R.  S.,  at  Gettysburg,  443, 
448,  449. 

Farnese,  Alexander,  Prince  of 
Parma,  232;  his  army,  234;  in  the 
Netherlands,  235. 

Fastolfe,  Sir  John,  victory  at  Rouvrai, 
211. 

Ferdinand  I.,  Emperor  of  Germany, 
227;  deposed,  429. 

Ferdinand  of  Spain,  captive  of  Gren- 
ada, 226;  death,  227. 


INDEX. 


509 


Fisk,  Major,  at  Yorktown,  424. 

Flaminius  defeats  King  Philip  at  Cy- 
nocephalaB,  112. 

Flavius,  adherence  to  Rome,  120; 
interview  with  brother,    133,   134. 

Foy,  General,  quoted,  92;  retreat 
from  Waterloo,  395. 

France,  influence,  208;  condition,  209; 
religion,  215;  possessions,  259;  de- 
feated at  St.  Quentin,  227;  allied 
powers  against,  269;  sought  alli- 
ance with  Sweden,  284;  war  with 
England,  295 ;  Treaty  of  Paris, 
296;  acknowledged  independence  of 
United  States,  326;  States-General 
convened,  326  ;  revolutionary  prin- 
ciples, 328;  a  republic,  329;  mis- 
conduct of  army,  330,  332;  invades 
Flanders,  331;  England  and  Spain 
declare  war  against,  341,  342;  Na- 
poleon made  Emperor,  342;  sur- 
render of  Paris,  343;  struggle  with 
England,  409-410;  Seven  Years' 
War,  410-411;  Quebec  campaign, 
411-420;  war  with  Mexico,  432;  de- 
clares war  against  Prussia,  458. 

Francis  I.  of  France  defeated,  227. 

Franks,  origin,  162, 

Eraser,  Brigadier-General,  at  Saratoga, 
308;  gallantry,  317;  wounded,  318; 
death,  319;  burial,  320. 

Frederick  II.,  King  of  Prussia,  295. 

Fredericksburg,  battle,  432. 

Frobisher,  Sir  Martin,  exploits,  228. 

Frontenac,  Fort,  capture,  410,  411. 

Funston,  General,  captures  Aguinal- 
do,  497. 

Gage,  General  Thomas,  governor, 
421. 

Gama,  Vasco  di,  expedition,  226. 

Garfield,  James  A.,  assassinated,  472. 

Garrison,  W.  L.,  attacks  slavery,  430. 

Gates,  General  Horatio,  commands 
at  Saratoga,  310;  army,  311;  en- 
counter with  Burgoyne,  313,  315, 
316;  reinforced,  314;  deprives  Ar- 
nold of  command,  317;  defeats  Bur- 
goyne, 318,  319;  conduct  toward 
British,  324,  325.    See  also  Saratoga. 

Gauls  bum  Rome,  55. 


George  III.,  accession  to  throne  of 
England,  420. 

George  IV.  ascends  throne  of  Eng- 
land, 429. 

Genseric,  king  of  the  Vandals,  142. 

Germanicus,  conflict  with  Arminius, 
133,  135,  136;  takes  arms  against 
Maroboduus,   136. 

Germany,  struggle  for  freedom,  118; 
Arminius"s  victory,  119;  indigna- 
tion against  Romans,  124;  inde- 
pendence secured,  131;  homage  to 
Arminius,  137-139;  character,  145; 
remarks  on,  285. 

Gettysburg,  campaign,  442-457;  Lee's 
northward  march,  443;  federal 
movements,  444;  misuse  of  con- 
federate cavalry,  445;  Meade  dis- 
places Hooker,  445;  forces,  446,  447; 
Meade's  plan,  447;  battle,  first  day, 
447-449;  second  day,  position  of 
forces,  450;  Lee  and  Longstreet,  450, 
451;  Round  Tops,  451,  453:  posi- 
tions, 452;  federal  council,  453;  third 
day,  Gulp's  Hill,  453;  positions,  454; 
Pickett's  attack,  455,  456;  Lee  con- 
fesses error,  456;  question  of  coun- 
ter-charge, 456,  457;  losses,  457; 
Lee's  retreat,  457;  Lincoln's  disap- 
pointment, 457. 

Gibbon,  description  of  Roman  army, 
107,  127  n.;  account  of  battle  of 
Chalons,  157  n. 

Gibraltar,  capture,  409. 

Gimat,  Lieutenant-Colonel,  at  York- 
town,  424. 

Gladsall,  Sir  William,  commands 
English  at  siege  of  Orleans,  219;  de- 
fence of  the  Tourelles,  221;  death, 
222. 

Goethe,  at  Valmy,  339;  sensations, 
329,  340,  341. 

Gonsalvo  of  Cordova  conquers  Naples, 
227. 

Goths,  allies  of  Rome,  144;  included 
in  German  race,  145;  leading  tribe, 
146. 

Graham,  Sergeant,  at  Waterloo,  400, 
401. 

Grand  Alliance,  formed,  258;  de- 
clares war  against  France,  269. 


510 


INDEX. 


Grant,  General  U.  S.,  captures  Fort 
Donelson,  433;  Lincoln's  faith  in, 
433;  original  plan  against  Vicks- 
burg,  434;  destruction  of  Holly 
Springs  depot,  434;  and  Halleck, 
435;  in  command  before  Vicksburg, 
435;  obstacles,  435;  opposing  force, 
436;  own  force,  436;  naval  auxiliary, 
436;  futile  operations,  437;  crosses 
river  below  Vicksburg,  438;  Port 
Gibson,  438;  abandons  base,  438; 
victories  in  rear  of  Vicksburg,  438; 
siege,  439;  receives  surrender;  440; 
losses,  440. 

Gray,  Lord,  advises  Queen  Elizabeth, 
240. 

Great  Britain,  war  with  Transvaal 
Republic,  497. 

Greeks  defeat  Persians  at  Mycale,  33. 

Grenada  captured,  226. 

Grenville,  Sir  Richard,  advises  Queen 
Elizabeth,  240. 

Grouchy,  Marshal,  failure,  362,  379. 

Guadalupe-Hidalgo  Treaty,  43L 

Guise,  Duke  of,  takes  arms  against 
Henry  IIL,  238. 

Gusman,  Alonzo  Perez  de,  commands 
Spanish  Armada,  249;  King  Philip's 
orders  to,  251. 

Gylippus,  Spartan  general,  47;  saved 
Syracuse,  49;  defeats  Nicias,  51. 

Hamilcar,  hatred  to  Rome,  94;  sur- 
named  Barca,  95  n. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  at  Yorktown, 
424. 

Hancock,  W.  S.,  in  Gettysburg  cam- 
paign, 448,  449,  455. 

Hannibal,  commands  Carthaginian 
army  in  Spain,  82;  invades  Italy, 
82;  invades  Italy,  83;  contest  with 
Rome,  85;  genius,  91,  92;  ravages 
Italy,  93;  opposed  by  Nero,  98, 
100;  at  Carusium,  99,  101;  brother's 
head  thrown  into  camp,  109;  power 
broken,  112;  defeated  by  Scipio, 
112. 

Hardrada,  Harald,  King  of  Norway, 
175;  attacks  England,  179;  defeat 
and  death,  179. 

Hardrubal,   commands  Carthaginian 


-  army  in  Spain,  94;  outmanoeuvres 
Scipio,  94;  enters  Gaul,  95;  enters 
Italy,  97;  besieges  Placentia,  97; 
opposed  by  Livius,  98;  advance 
towards  Ariminum,  101;  messenger 
captured  by  Romans,  101,  102; 
discovers  Nero's  arrival  at  Sena, 
104;  betrayed,  105;  disposition  of 
army,  106;  death,  109. 

Harold,  son  of  Earl  of  Godwn,  175; 
competitor  for  throne  of  England, 
175;  oath  to  William  of  Normandy, 
176;  elected  king,  177;  raises  army, 
178;  defeats  Norwegians,  179; 
march  to  London,  181;  army  in- 
ferior to  Normans,  183;  army  at 
Battle  Abbey,  184,  185;  reply  to 
William's  ultimatum,  187;  on  eve 
of  battle,  188;  directions  to  barons, 
192;  standard,  193;  wounded,  196; 
sought  by  Duke  William,  200; 
death,  201;  valor,  203;  legends, 
204. 

Hastings,  battle,  177-188;  social  ef- 
fects, 172;  beneficial  to  England, 
172-174;  landing  of  William  the 
Conqueror,  181,  182;  locality  of 
battle,  184;  plan  of  battle,  185; 
interest  attached  to  spot,  186;  eve 
of  battle,  188-202;  death  of  King 
Harold,  201;  English  defeated,  201, 
202;  slain,  203. 

Hawke,  Sir  Edward,  victory  at  Quib- 
eron  Bay,  412. 

Hawkins,  Sir  John,  exploits,  228. 

Heeren  quoted,  11. 

Henry  II.,  King  of  England,  205. 

Henry  III.,  the  Duke  of  Guise  takes 
arms  against,  238. 

Henry  IV.  of  France  conforms  to 
Catholic  Church,  257. 

Henry  V.  of  England,  claims  crown 
of  France,  206;  death,  207. 

Henry  VI.,  birth,  207. 

Henry  VIII.  renounces  papal  suprem- 
acy, 227. 

Herbert,  lines  from  "  Attila,"  143, 144, 
153. 

Herodotus  quoted,  15. 

Hill,  A.  P.,  at  Gettysburg,  443,  447, 
450,  452. 


INDEX. 


511 


Hippias,  Athenian  tyrant,  2,  7,  9,  13, 
15,  18. 

Hobson,  R.  P.,  sinking  of  Merrimac, 
485. 

Hochstet,  battle.    See  Blenheim. 

Honoria  offers  hand  to  Attila,  153. 

Holland  opposes  Louis  XIV.,  263. 

Hooker,  Joseph,  defeat  at  Chancel- 
lorsville,  442;  Lincoln's  counsel  to, 
443,  444;  pursuit  of  Lee,  444;  rise 
of  cavalry,  444;  relieved  of  com- 
mand, 445. 

Howard,  Lord,  refusal  to  obey  royal 
command,  228,  249;  sails  to  Corun- 
na,  250. 

Howe,  Lord,  campaign  against  Wash- 
ington, 312;  victory  over  French 
fleet,  341. 

Howell,  J.  A.,  in  Spanish  War,  482. 

Hungary,  interest  in,  147;  Boling- 
broke  on,  263. 

Huns,  formidable  to  Chinese,  146; 
conquests,  147;  empire,  151;  army, 
154. 

lONiANS  attack  Sardis,  15. 

Jacobite  rebeUion,  410. 

Jameson  raid,  473. 

Japan,  war  with  China,  473;  with 
Russia,  498-504 

Joan  of  Arc,  parentage,  212;  character, 
213;  inspired,  214,  215,  216;  inter- 
view with  the  Dauphin,  215;  opin- 
ions of,  216;  at  Blois,  217;  disci- 
pline, 218;  sorceress,  219;  at  St. 
Loup,  220;  attacks  the  Tourelles, 
221;  wounded,  221,  225;  captures 
the  Tourelles,  222;  mission  ful- 
filled, 223,  224;  further  exploits, 
223,  225;  presentments,  225;  pris- 
oner, 225;  burned,  226. 

Johnson,  Sir  William,  victory  at 
Niagara,  418. 

Jugurthine  war,  114. 

Kellerman,  Duke  of  Valmy,  327; 
career,  327;  army,  332,  335,  337; 
at  Valmy,  336;  position  at  Water- 
loo, 338;  repulses  allies,  340,  341. 
See  also  Waterloo, 


King  George's  War,  outbreak,  410, 

411. 
King  William's  War,  409. 
Klopstock,    ode    to    Arminius,    139, 

140;  quoted,  140,  141. 
Knolles,  Sir   Francis,  advises   Queen 

Elizabeth,  240. 
Kosciusko,  General,  at  Saratoga,  314. 
Kuropatkin  repulsed  at  Liao-yang, 

499. 

LACEDiEMONlANS,  at  Marathon,  26, 27; 
against  Athenians,  42;  defeated  by 
Antipater,  79. 

La  Fayette,  flight,  332,  333. 

Lamachus,  Athenian  general,  45. 

La  Salle  claims  Mississippi  Valley,  409, 
411. 

Latham,  Dr.  Robert  G.,  referred  to, 
131,  138. 

Laurens,  John,  at  Yorktown,  424,  425. 

Lauzun,  Duke  de,  at  Yorktown,  423, 
424. 

League  of  Smalcald  formed,  227. 

Lee,  R.  E.,  army,  442;  Northern  in- 
vasion, 443;  forces  at  Gettysburg, 
443;  misuse  of  cavalry,  444;  battle, 
first  day,  447;  second  day,  450; 
rejects  Longstreet's  advice,  450, 
451;  third  day.  Gulp's  Hill,  453; 
Pickett's  charge,  455;  confesses  er- 
ror, 456;  retreat,  457. 

Leighton,  Sir  Thomas,  advises  Queen 
Elizabeth,  240. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  elected  President, 
432  ;  proclamation  abolishing  sla- 
very, 432;  faith  in  Grant,  433;  and 
failure  to  crush  Lee,  457;  assassi- 
nated, 458. 

Lincoln,  General,  at  Saratoga,  314. 

Lion,  Richard  Coeur  de.  King  of  Eng- 
land, 205. 

Livius,  Marcus,  elected  Roman  con- 
sul, 96;  reconciled  to  Nero,  97; 
chief-in-command  in  Northern  Italy, 
98;  joined  by  Nero  at  Sena,  104; 
at  Metaurus,  108. 

Longstreet,  James,  joins  Lee,  442; 
disapproval  of  Northern  invasion, 
450,  451,  454;  opposed  to  Pickett'g 
attack,  455;  quotes  Lee,  456. 


512 


INDEX. 


Louisa,  Archduchess  Maria,  marriage, 
342. 

Louisiana,  settlement,  409;  purchase, 
428. 

Louis  Philippe,  Due  de  Chartres,  at 
Valmy,  338. 

Louis  XIV.,  conquests,  257,  258,  259, 
264;  career,  259;  talent  for  govern- 
ment, 260,  261;  France  indebted  to, 
261;  state  of  Germany  at  time  of, 
262;  state  of  Spain,  262;  state  of 
England,  263;  opposed  by  Holland, 
263;  ambition,  265;  Spain  be- 
queathed to  grandson,  258,  265; 
successes,  270;  defeat  at  Blenheim, 
281;  death,  295. 

Louis  XVL,  trial  and  execution,  341. 

Liibeck,  foundation,  205. 

Macaulay  quoted,  123. 
McClernand,   John   A.,   raises   army, 

435;  before  Vicksburg,  435;  attacks 

Arkansas  Post,  435;  under  Grant, 

435;  in  Vicksburg  campaign,  436, 

438. 
Macedonian  phalanx,  68;  strength  of 

army,  67,  68;  discipline  of  cavalry, 

76  n. 
Macedon,  Philip  of,  compared  to  Czar 

Peter,  287. 
McKinley,  William,  remonstrates 

against  inhumanities  in  Cuba,  475; 

offers  to  mediate,  475;  and  Alger, 

495. 
Mackintosh,  Sir  James,  quoted,  345, 

346. 
MacMahon,  Marshal,  at  Sedan,  461, 

464. 
McPherson,    James    B.,    Vicksburg 

campaign,  436. 
Macready,  Major,  at  Waterloo,  383- 

387. 
Magnus,    King   of   Norway,    preten- 
sions, 175. 
Mahomet,     conquers     Arabia,     157; 

death,  158. 
Mahomet  IL,  takes  Constantinople, 

226. 
Maine,  sent  to  Havana,  475;  blown 

up,  473,  475. 
Manila,  naval  battle,  474-481;  Dew- 1 


ey's  position  before,  476;  vessels 
engaged,  477;  map,  478;  Spanish 
defeated,  479;  casualties,  479, 
480;  foreign  criticism,  480;  ex- 
pulsion of  Spain  from  the  Pacific, 
481;  captured,  494. 

Marathon,  council  of  war,  1,  5; 
Greek  forces,  2-4;  Persians,  3,  4; 
plains,  10;  importance,  18,  19;  as- 
sociations, 20;  form  of  attack,  23; 
valor  of  Persians,  24;  victory  of 
Greeks,  25;  losses,  25-27;  burials, 
27,  28;  memorials,  30;  effect  of 
victory,  31;  explanatory  remarks, 
31-33. 

Mardonius,  army  destroyed,  33. 

Margueritte,  General,  at  Sedan,  468. 

Marlborough,  Duke  of,  character,  267, 
268;  victories,  267,  281,  409,  410; 
commands  allied  armies,  269;  moves 
forces  towards  the  Rhine,  271 ;  army, 
272;  march,  272,  273,  274;  bewil- 
dered Villeroy,  273;  interview  with 
Prince  Eugene,  274;  defeats  Ba- 
varian army,  274;  perilous  position, 
275;  council  of  war  before  Blen- 
heim, 276;  crosses  the  Nebel,  278; 
rescues  centre  of  army,  279. 

Maroboduus,  King  of  Suevi,  conflict 
with  Arminius,  136. 

Martel,  Charles,  victory  over  the 
Saracens,  159-161;  parentage  and 
early  career,  164;  encounter  with 
Abderrahman,  165,  167;  name 
changed  to  Caldus,  166. 

Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  death,  234, 
235. 

Maximilian,  Prince,  at  Blenheim,  277. 

Meade,  George  G.,  commands  army 
of  Potomac,  445;  character  and 
appearance,  445;  forces  under,  446; 
Gettysburg,  first  day,  447;  capac- 
ity for  leadership,  448 ;  second 
day,  position  of  forces,  450;  Gulp's 
Hill,  453;  council,  453;  third  day, 
Pickett's  attack,  455;  question  of 
counter-attack,  456;  and  Lee's  re- 
treat, 457. 

Merovingian  kings,  162,  164. 

Metaurus,  locality,  84;  battle,  84; 
crisis  of  contest  between  Rome  and 


INDEX. 


513 


Carthage,  86;  council  of  war,  104; 
Hasdrubal  betrayed,  105;  descrip- 
tion of  battle,  108;  defeat  of  Car- 
thaginians, 109;  sentiments  at 
Rome,  110-112. 

Michelet  on  Punic  wars,  86. 

Miles,  N.  A.,  in  Spanish  War,  486, 
493;  Porto  Rico  campaign,  494; 
charges  of  maladministration  of 
army,  494,  495. 

Miltiades,  history,  5;  on  trial,  7,  29; 
address  to  Callimachus,  9;  dispo- 
sition of  forces  at  Marathon,  21, 
22;  outmanoeuvres  Datis,  26;  sub- 
sequent history,  28,  29. 

Mississippi  River,  discovery,  409,  411. 

Mitford  referred  to.  66  n. 

Mithridates  the  Great,  King  of  Pon- 
tus,  114.  155. 

Monitor  and  Merrimac  engagement. 
432. 

Montcalm,  victory  at  Ticonderoga, 
410;  capture  of  Fort  William  Henry, 
411;  stand  at  Quebec,  414;  forces, 
415;  policy  of  defence,  416;  meets 
Wolfe,  419;  defeat,  420. 

Miiflaing,  Baron,  at  Waterloo,  352; 
memoirs,  352  n.,  353,  357,  360. 

Napier,  Sir  Charles,  conquers  Sinde, 
430. 

Napoleon,  quoted,  57,  60,  76  n.,  282, 
289,  290;  contest  with  England, 
85;  First  Consul  of  France,  342; 
Emperor  of  France,  342;  victory  at 
Austerlitz,  342;  endeavors  to  make 
brother  King  of  Spain,  342;  mar- 
riage, 342;  goes  to  Elba,  343;  re- 
turns from  Elba,  343,  345,  346; 
endeavors  to  negotiate  with  allied 
sovereigns,  346;  proclaimed  an  out- 
law, 347;  military  preparations, 
348;  army,  349;  address  to  troops, 
350;  marches  toward  Charleroi,  351; 
successful  operations,  356;  sends 
Ney  to  Quatre  Bras,  356;  defeats 
Bliicher,  360;  marches  against  Eng- 
lish, 361;  sends  Grouchy  to  ob- 
struct Bliicher,  362;  censured  the 
course  pursued  by  Wellington,  363; 
estimate  of  opposing  troops,  363; 


at  Waterloo,  363;  career,  373;  dis- 
position of  forces,  370,  371;  cav- 
alry charges,  380;  repulsed  by 
British,  380;  Young  Guard,  382; 
description  of,  at  Waterloo,  388; 
flight,  393,  406;  surrender,  407; 
exiled  to  St.  Helena,  429. 

Napoleon  III.,  declares  war  against 
Germany.  459;  at  Sedan,  460,  470. 

Napoleon,  Louis,  proclaimed  Em- 
peror,  431. 

Nativity  of  Our  Lord,  the,  date  of, 
116, 

Nebogatoff,  Admiral,  at  battle  of 
Tsu-shima,  503. 

Nelson,  Lord,  death,  342. 

Nero,  Caius  Claudius,  consul  of  Rome, 
95;  opposed  Hannibal,  98;  expedi- 
tion against  Hasdrubal,  102,  103; 
joins  Livius  at  Sena,  104;  at  Me- 
taurus,  108;  victory,  109;  return  to 
the  south,  109;  march  unequalled, 
112. 

Netherlands,  revolt  against  Spain, 
227. 

New  Orleans,  fall,  432. 

Ney,  Marshal,  occupies  France,  356  ; 
at  Quatre  Bras,  358,  359;  at  Water- 
loo, 371;  loss  of  guns,  378.  See 
also  Waterloo. 

Nicias,  Athenian  general  at  Syracuse, 
45;  incompetency,  49;  death,  54. 

Niebuhr,  praise  of  Wellington,  406. 

Nimrod  claimed  as  ancestor  by  Attila, 
149,  150. 

Ninev6h,  remains,  69. 

Noailles,  Viscount  de,  at  Yorktown, 
425. 

Norman,     conquest,     social    effects,       • 
171-174;    character,    174;    appear- 
ance, 183;  losses  at  the  battle  of 
Hastings,  203. 

Normandy,  Duke  Robert  of,  death, 
170. 

Normandy,  Duke  William  of,  com- 
petitor for  crown  of  England,  175. 

Norris,  Sir  John,  advises  Queen 
Elizabeth,  240. 

Orange,  William  of.  King  of  Eng- 
land, 258. 


514 


INDEX. 


Orleans,  besieged,  154,  155,  207;  Joan 
of  Arc's  victory,  208;  the  city,  209, 
210;  the  Tourelles,  210-211. 

Paris,  Treaty  of,  296,  420. 

Peace  of  Shimonoseki,  473. 

Pelet,  General,  at  Waterloo,  404,  405. 

Peloponnesian  War,  35,  37,  41,  42, 
55. 

Pemberton,  John  C,  as  a  general,  436; 
Vicksburg  campaign,  436;  besieged, 
438,  439;  surrender,  440. 

Pericles,  director  of  Athenian  councils, 
35. 

Perses,  Macedonian  King,  defeated  at 
Pydna,  113. 

Persia,  army  at  Marathon,  4,  23;  do- 
minions, 10,  13, 14;  government,  11; 
attacks  Eretria,  17;  valor,  24;  de- 
feat, 25;  losses,  27;  pride  broken, 
31;  recovers  Egypt,  33,  crushed  by 
Alexander,  79. 

Peter  the  Great,  accession,  258;  char- 
acter, 287;  defeats  Charles  XII.  at 
Pultowa,  292,  293;  thoughts  of 
further  conquests,  293,  294;  death, 
295.    See  also  Pultowa. 

Philip,  King  of  Macedon,  55;  victory 
at  ChsDronea,  56;  assassinated,  56. 

Philip,  King  of  Macedonia,  defeated 
at  CynocephalaB,  112. 

Philip  II.,  King  of  Spain,  227;  con- 
quers Portugal,  227;  Spain  under, 
230;  army  and  fleet,  231;  foreign 
possessions,  232,  233;  conquests, 
233;  zeal  in  cause  of  popery,  234; 
preparations  for  fitting  out  the 
Armada,  234,  235;  causes  the  Duke 
de  Guise  to  take  arms  against 
Henry  III.,  238;  reproaches  Santa 
Cruz,  249;  orders  to  the  Duke  de 
Medina  Sidonia,  251 ;  dies,  257.  See 
also  Spanish  Armada. 

Phillips,  Major-General,  at  Saratoga, 
308. 

Pickett,  G.  E.,  charge  at  Gettysburg, 
455,  456. 

Picton,  Sir  Thomas,  at  Waterloo,  401. 

Pizarro  conquers  Peru,  227. 

Flatasans  at  Marathon,  3. 

Plentheim,  battle.    See  Blenheim. 


Ponsonby,  Frederick,  at  Waterloo, 
401-403. 

Pontus  founded,  81. 

Porter,  David  D.,  Vicksburg  cam- 
paign, 436,  437,  440  n. 

Port  Arthur  captured,  499,  500. 

Port  Hudson,  Banks's  expedition 
against,  440;  surrender,  440. 

Port  Royal  founded,  409,  411. 

Praed  quoted,  134,  135. 

Prideaux,  Brigadier,  advance  on 
Niagara,  417;  death,  418. 

Proctor,  Redfield,  on  Cuban  affairs, 
475. 

Pultowa,  battle,  282-297;  importance, 
285;  extent  of  Sclavonic  race,  286; 
besieged  by  Swedes,  292;  Czar 
Peter  to  its  relief,  292;  his  army, 
292;  disparity  of  armies,  293:  de- 
scription of  battle,  293;  defeat  of 
Charles  XII.,  293. 

Punic  wars,  82,  84,  86,  113. 

QuARTRE  Bras,  battle  at,  358. 

Quebec,  founding,  409,  411;  fall,  411- 
420;  Wolfe  leads  expedition  against, 
412;  departure  of  British  fleet, 
413;  Montcalm  at,  414;  stronghold, 
415;  British  ships  pass,  416;  sur- 
render, 420. 

Queen  Anne's  War,  outbreak,  409,  411. 

Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,  quoted,  59, 
98,  99,  108,  109,  241,  242,  252; 
commander  of  Plymouth,  228;  ad- 
vises Queen  Elizabeth,  240. 

Rawlinson,  Major,  deciphers  Cunei- 
form inscriptions,  13. 

Reformation,  cause,  227. 

Reynolds,  John  F.,  command  in 
Gettysburg  campaign,  447;  killed, 
447,  448. 

Richelieu,  Cardinal,  Minister  of  France, 
257. 

Rojestvensky,  Admiral,  leaves  Cron- 
stadt,  499;  plan  of  action,  500; 
forces,  502;  battle  with  Togo,  502, 
503;  defeat,  503. 

Romans,  acquire  Sicily,  82,  89;  select 
Caius  Claudius  Nero,  and  Marcus 
Livius  consuls,  95,  96;  raise  armies, 


INDEX. 


515 


97;  feelings,  98;  military  system, 
107,  108;  storm  Corinth,  113;  dis- 
cipline of  armies,  124;  war  against 
Mithridates  the  Great,  114;  occupy 
Germany,  119;  victory  over  Ar- 
minius,  136;  conquest  of  Britain, 
141;  destroy  Jerusalem,  141. 

Rome,  captures  Veii,  55;  burned  by 
Gauls,  55;  war  with  Samnites,  55; 
first  Punic  war,  81  -  83  ;  acquire 
Sicily,  82,  89  ;  second  Punic  war, 
91;  resistance  to  Hannibal,  92,  93; 
elects  consuls,  95,  96;  resources 
drained,  98;  armies,  98;  alarmed 
at  Nero's  expedition  against  Has- 
drubal,  103;  joy  at  victory  at  the 
Metaurus,  108-111;  predominant 
in  North  Africa,  112,  113;  govern- 
ment, 120;  defeat  of  army  under 
Varus,  129;  power  in  Germany 
crushed,  131;  territorial  extent,  141; 
empire  divided,  142;  last  victory, 
144;  legend  of  the  twelve  vultijres, 
151,  152. 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  on  naval  prep- 
arations for  Spanish  War,  482;  with 
Rough  Riders,  486;  in  Cuba,  487, 
488;  decision  on  Schley  contro- 
versy, 496. 

Ross,  Major,  at  Yorktown,  425. 

Rouarie,  Marquis  de  la,  supporter 
of  revolution  in  France,  337. 

Rough  Riders,  organization,  486;  in 
Cuba,  487,  488. 

Rudolph  of  Hapsburg,  Emperor  of 
Germany,  206. 

Russia,  influence,  282;  conquests,  283; 
power,  283;  rise,  284;  a  Sclavonic 
people,  285 ;  early  history,  287 ; 
development,  288;  battle  of  Pul- 
towa,  288;  army  under  Peter  the 
Great,  289;  aggressive  policy,  294; 
policy  in  the  East,  498;  Pacific  sea- 
port and  hold  on  Manchuria,  498. 

Ryswick  Treaty,  258. 

St.  Clair  evacuates  Fort  Ticonderoga, 

309. 
St.  Leger,  General,  expedition  against 

Fort  Stanwix,  311;  defeat,  312. 
St.  Quentin,  French  defeats,  227. 


Salisbury,  Earl  of,  209;  besieges  Or- 
leans, 210;  death,  211. 

Sampson,  W.  T.,  command,  483  ; 
search  for  Cervera's  squadron,  483, 
484;  blockade  of  Santiago,  485;  bat- 
tle off  Santiago,  491-493  j  Schley 
controversy,  495,  496. 

Santa  Anna  defeated,  430. 

San  Juan  Hill,  battle,  487,  488,  490. 

Santa  Cruz,  Admiral,  death,  249. 

Saracens,  extent  of  conquests,  162; 
hoped  to  conquer  Europe,  163 ; 
invade  France,  165  ;  contest  with 
Eudes  and  Martel,  165;  cause  of 
defeat,  166;  slain,  166. 

Saratoga,  victory  of  Americans,  298- 
326;  early  events,  305,  306;  Eng- 
lish forces,  306,  314;  American 
army,  307,  310,  314;  Burgoyne 
at,  312;  plan  of  battle,  315;  de- 
scription of  battle,  316,  317;  Bur- 
goyne's  retreat,  318,  319;  success 
of  Americans,  318;  Lossing's  ac- 
count of  event,  319-321;  Burgojme 
surrounded,  322;  fortitude  of  Brit- 
ish, 322,  323;  Burgoyne's  surrender, 
324;  joy  of  Americans  at  victory, 
325;  change  of  feeling  in  France 
over  victory,  326;  independence  of 
United  States  recognized  by  Eng- 
land, 326. 

Saunders,  Admiral,  at  Quebec,  412; 
bombards  Beauport,  418. 

Saxons,  remarks  on,  131;  after  con- 
quest, 172;  and  Magna  Charta,  173; 
superiority  of  Normans  over,  174; 
slain  at  battle  of  Hastings,  203. 

Schley,  W.  S.,  flying  squadron,  482, 
483,  484;  search  for  Cervera's 
squadron,  484,  485;  battle  off  San- 
tiago, 491-493;  Sampson,  contro- 
versy, 495,  496. 

Schwartzenberg,  Prince,  commands 
army  of  the  Upper  Rhine,  347. 

Scipio,  Publius,  compared  with  Well- 
mgton,  85;  outmanoeuvred  by  Has- 
drubal,  94;  defeats  Hannibal,  112. 

Secession  of  Southern  States,  432. 

Sedan,  battle  459-471;  forces,  459- 
461;  fighting  at,  362-469;  capitula- 
tion, 470,  471;  losses,  471. 


516 


INDEX. 


Seleucus  kingdom,  81. 

Seven  Years'  War,  the,  296,  410,  420. 

Severus,  Emperor  of  Rome,  141. 

Seymour,  Lord  Henry,  blockades  ports 
of  Flanders,  251. 

Shafter,  W.  R.,  in  Santiago  campaign, 
486,  487,  491,  493,  494. 

Sherman,  W.  T.,  losses  at  Chickasaw 
Bayou,  434;  and  McClernand,  435; 
in  Vicksburg  campaign,  436,  438; 
march  to  the  sea,  458. 

Sicily,  Athens  interest  in,  42;  Roman 
province,  82;  never  conquered  by 
Carthage,   89. 

Sidonia,  Medina,  King  Philip's  orders 
to,  251. 

Sigsbee,  C.  D.,  in  Spanish  War,  484. 

Sikhs,  ancestors,  65. 

Sixtus  v..  Pope,  denounces  Queen 
Elizabeth,  234,  235. 

Spain,  desire  for  peace  with  England, 
237;  War  of  Succession,  409,  410; 
war  with  United  States,  473-496. 

Spanish  Armada,  228-257;  off  Spanish 
coast,  229;  preparation  to  resist, 
229;  strength,  230,  251;  fitting  out, 
234,  235;  destination,  236;  descrip- 
tion, 245-247;  sails,  249;  plan  of 
attack,  250;  sights  English,  251; 
engagement,  252;  Parma  prevented 
from  joining,  253;  English  fire- 
ships,  253;  the  fight,  254,  255;  de- 
feated, 255,  256. 

Spanish  War,  473-496;  causes,  474, 
475;  war  declared,  476;  battle  of 
Manila  Bay,  477-480;  capture  of 
Manila,  480,  494;  naval  prepara- 
tions, 482;  blockade  of  Cuba,  483; 
comparative  naval  forces,  483; 
search  for  Cervera  s  squadron,  484; 
blockade  of  Santiago  harbor,  485; 
Santiago  campaign,  485-490;  map, 
489;  destruction  of  Spanish  fleet, 
491-493;  Spanish  surrender,  493; 
Porto  Rico  campaign,  494;  army 
investigation,  494,  495;  Sampson- 
Schley  controversy,-  495,  496;  mili- 
tary lessons,  496. 

Spartans,  delay  march  to  Marathon, 
3,  5;  assist  Syracusans,  47;  influ- 
ence, 49. 


Stamford  Bridge,  battle,  179. 

Stamp  Act,  passage,  420. 

Stanley,  Sir  William,  surrender  to 
Prince  of  Parma,  235. 

Stanwix,  Brigadier,  to  succor  Pitts- 
burg, 417;  built  Fort  Pitt,  418. 

States-General,  the,  convened  in 
France,  326. 

Strongbow,  Earl  of  Pembroke,  lands 
in  Ireland,  205. 

Stuart,  J.  E.  B.,  raid  during  Gettys- 
burg campaign,  444,  445,  447,  455. 

Suffolk,  Lord,  at  Orleans,  211. 

Sumter,  Fort,  bombardment,  432. 

Sweden,  before  the  battle  of  Pultowa, 
284;  origin,  285. 

Syracuse,  siege,  36,  38,  48;  strength, 
37;  scorn  Athenian  invasion,  44; 
plan,  48 ;  saved  by  Spartans,  49, 
50;  repulse  Demosthenes,  53;  be- 
sieged by  Carthaginians,  55,  56. 

Tallard,  Marshal,  leads  French 
forces  into  Bavaria,  270,  273;  be- 
wildered by.  Marlborough,  273; 
joins  Marshal  Marsin,  274;  at  Blen- 
heim, 277;  defeat,  281. 

Talleyrand,  announces  Napoleon's  es- 
cape from  Elba,  346;  represented 
Louis  XVIII.,  347. 

Tann,  General  von  der,  at  Sedan, 
461,  462. 

Taylor,  Henry  C,  in  Spanish  War,  486. 

Theodoric,  king  of  the  Visigoths,  144; 
at  Chalons,  155;  death,  156. 

Thierry,  Augustin,  quoted,  171,  172. 

Thirty  Years'  War,  257. 

Tiberius  recalled  from  command  in 
Germany,  122. 

Ticonderoga,  captured  by  Burgoyne, 
309;  Montcalm's  victory,  410. 

Timoleon  defeats  Carthaginians,  56. 

Togo,  Admiral,  attacks  Russian  fleet 
at  Port  Arthur,  499;  defeats  Ro- 
jestvensky  at  battle  of  Tsu-shima, 
502,  503. 

Tolly,  Barclay  de,  commands  army  of 
the  Middle  Rhine,  348. 

Tourelles,  besieged,  210,  211;  Sir  Wil- 
liam Gladsdale  commands  English, 
219;  defence,  221;  captured,  222. 


INDEX. 


517 


Tours,  battle,  159;  results  of  victory, 
160;  account  of  battle,  165-168. 

Trojan,  Emperor  of  Rome,  141. 

Troyes,  Treaty  of,  concluded,  206,  207. 

Tsu-shlma,  battle,  498-504;  Admiral 
Rojestvensky  leaves  Cronstadt,  499; 
Russian  plan  of  action,  500;  vessels 
engaged,  502;  engagement,  502,  503; 
Japanese  victory,  503;  treaty  of 
peace,  504. 

United  States,  power,  229;  war 
with  England  (1812),  342,  428; 
independence,  305,  326,  421,  428; 
war  with  Tripoli,  428;  purchase  of 
Louisiana,  428;  prepares  for  war 
with  France,  428;  treaty  with 
Spain,  429;  war  with  Mexico,  431; 
Civil  War:  Vicksburg,  433-441;  Get- 
tysburg, 442-457;  war  with  Spain, 
474-496. 

Utrecht  treaty,  295,  410. 

Valmy,  battle,  327-341;  Kellermann's 
monument,  327;  importance,  328; 
French  army,  329,  331;  the  Car- 
magnoles, 330;  plan  of  operations, 
332;  allied  army,  332;  Longwy  and 
Verdun  captured,  333;  description 
of  battle,  340,  341;  French  victory, 
341;  results  of  battle,  341;  Goethe's 
observations,  341. 

Varus,  Quintilius,  commands  Roman 
forces  in  Germany,  123;  character, 
123;  army,  124;  vanity,  124; 
marches  against  rebels,  125;  prog- 
ress impeded,  126;  attacked  by 
Arminius,  127;  suicide,  128;  army 
destroyed,  129. 

Vicksburg,  433-441;  Grant's  original 
plan,  434;  destruction  of  Holly 
Springs  depot,  434;  Sherman's  fail- 
ure, 434;  McClernand's  command, 
435;  Grant's  command,  435;  to- 
pography, 435;  Confederate  forces, 
436;  Federal  forces,  436;  tentative 
operations,  436,  437;  running  the 
batteries,  437;  Grant  crosses  river 
below,  438;  Federal  victories  in  rear, 
438;  siege,  439,  440;  surrender,  440; 
losses,  440. 


Victoria,  Queen,  marriage,  430. 

Villeroy,  Marshal,  leads  French  forces 
in  Flanders,  270;  threatens  town 
of  Huys,  272;  bewildered  by  Marl- 
borough, 273. 

Virginius  affair,  474,  475. 

Warren,  G.  K.,  in  Gettysburg  cam- 
paign, 451;  wounded,  453. 

Washington,  George,  commands  army 
at  Cambridge,  421;  at  Yorktown, 
422,  424,  425. 

Waterloo,  compared  with  struggle  at 
Zama,  85;  importance  of  victory, 
345,  363;  Napoleon  returns  from 
Elba,  346;  allied  powers  prepare 
for  war,  347;  Bliicher  and  Welling- 
ton occupy  Belgium,  348;  map  of 
country,  351;  Bliicher  concentrates 
forces  upon  Ligny,  353;  Wellington 
at  Quatre  Bras,  353;  Bliicher  baf- 
fles Grouchy,  362,  379,  380  n.; 
army  under  Wellington,  363;  map, 
369;  Wellington's  disposition  of 
forces,  367-369;  French  army,  370; 
Napoleon's  arrangement  of  forces, 
371;  battle  delayed,  375;  Belgian 
troops,  376;  Napoleon  commences 
action,  376;  flight  of  Dutch  and 
Belgian  troops,  377;  British  in- 
fantry under  Picton,  377;  charge  of 
Union  Brigade,  377;  capture  of 
Ney's  guns,  378;  Prussian  army, 
378;  cavalry  charges,  380;  French 
take  La  Haye  Sainte,  382;  Young 
Guard,  382;  losses  and  heroism, 
383,  389;  Macready's  narrative, 
383-387;  Old  Guard,  389,  391;  Im- 
perial Guards,  390;  British  Guards, 
390 ;  Wellington's  advance,  391  ; 
Napoleon's  flight,  393;  retreat,  394- 
399;  losses,  399;  anecdotes,  400- 
405 ;  sufferings  of  wounded,  402, 
403;  remarks,  407. 

Weedon,  General,  at  Yorktown,  423. 

Wellington,  Duke  of,  compared  with 
Scipio,  85;  admiration  accorded,  86; 
English  representative  at  Vienna, 
347;  allied  troops .  commanded  by, 
348,  363;  their  positions,  349;  moves 
troops   to    Quatre    Bras,  353;    in- 


518 


INDEX. 


terview  with  Bliicher,  357 ;  halts 
at  Waterloo,  361  ;  confidence  in 
Bliicher,  362;  disposition  of  forces, 
367-369;  precautions,  371;  previous 
career,  374;  the  battle,  376;  French 
defeated,  393;  feelings  after  the  bat- 
tle, 399;   advance  upon  Paris,  407. 

Weyler  y  Nicolau,  in  Cuba,  475 

William  Henry,  Fort,  taken  by  Mont- 
calm, 410,  411. 

William  III.,  King,  forms  "Grand 
Alliance,"  258;  death,  258. 

Williams,  Sir  Roger,  advises  Queen 
Elizabeth,  240. 

William  the  Conqueror,  succeeds  to 
dukedom  of  Normandy,  170;  par- 
entage, 171;  competitor  for  crown 
of  England,  175;  conduct  towards 
Harold,  176;  threat  to  avenge  Har- 
old's disregard  of  oath,  177,  178; 
submits  claim  to  the  pope,  178 ; 
army,  179,  191;  early  disasters, 
180;  march  to  Hastings,  181,  182; 


address  to   army,    189;   endeavors 

to  reach  King  Harold,  199;  valor, 

201;    crowned    King    of    England, 

204;  reign,  204. 
Wimpffen,    General   von,    at   Sedan, 

464,  468,  470,  471. 
Wolfe,    General,    Quebec   expedition, 

412;    character,    413;    force,    414; 

attacks    Beauport    redoubts,    417; 

illness,  418;  death,  419. 
Wood,  Dr.  Leonard,  Rough  Riders, 

486;  in  Santiago  campaign,  487,  488. 

Xerxes,  King  of  Persia,  invades 
Greece,  33. 

YoRKTOWN,  siege,  422-428;  besieging 
forces,  423-425;  Comwallis  surren- 
ders, 425;  joy  over  victory,  425, 
426;  results,  426-428. 

Zama,  comparison  between  Waterloo 
and,  85. 


THE   END 


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